Sweet Child of Mine
by jazzy-winchester
Summary: My name's Zara. This was meant to be the trip of a lifetime for me and my daughter Camille. Little did I know that our holiday would turn into a battle for survival against the odds in a foreign country. But then I meet the redneck with a heart of gold, Daryl Dixon, but can he protect us from both the dead and even more frightening, other survivours?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

So much for the perfect American holiday. Maybe if we had stayed in Australia none of this would have happened. I always did have the worst luck. Mind you the first week of our ultimate trip went amazingly well. My twin brother Max, his girlfriend Anna, my four year old daughter Camille and I went to Walt Disney World in Florida, we spent a week going on rides, watching shows and eating junk. It was a dream come true for Camille and I, she got to see her favourite Disney characters and her uncle spoilt her rotten, buying her everything she asked for. Max was the reason we were here, he had just been promoted and given a huge bonus, he was an advertising executive and he had landed Kraft Foods and Kellogg for his company, this was a huge deal, so much so that they gave him an all expenses trip around the United States to speak to the big wigs, he then invited Camille and I. Of course I jumped at the chance, I had never been out of the state of New South Wales let alone out of the country and with Camille starting school next year, this was probably the last chance for a trip this big that wouldn't interrupt her schooling. The only downside was Max had also invited his girlfriend Anna along. Anna had only been in the picture for two months but already she was taking over Max's life, trying to push us out, Max was oblivious, he was blinded by her fake tan and giant boobs. Anna was the stereotypical bimbo minus the blonde hair, she was a mousy brown, she worse tight clothes, push up bras and had maybe six braincells in total. She was exactly like the girls that had teased me in high school for being a geek because I liked to read instead of party. I was a huge nerd and pretty naive, even when I turned eighteen and was technically an adult I was pretty innocent. That was until I met Blaze, he was covered in piercings and tattoos and he was cool and dangerous and for some reason he liked me. Or so I thought, he really only wanted one thing, which I gave up, thinking it was forever, but the minute I showed him those double blue lines on my pregnancy test he was out of there so fast I swear he left a trail of flames behind him. My parents were disgusted and threw me out, so there I was 18, pregnant, homeless and alone. Luckily Max was willing to take me in, I got on my feet eventually, working all the way up to my due date at menial jobs, but without my twin I would have been lost. The day Camille was born was both the scariest and most beautiful day of my life, I was terrified and when they told me the cord was wrapped around her neck, I thought I would lose her, but Max was there the whole time. He held my hand and told me it would be ok, even when they rushed me into surgery he was there, he cut her umbilical cord and was the first one to hold her, he didn't want to give her up. We stayed with him until Camille was three and I finally was able to afford the rent on a small two bedroom apartment. There was a lot of separation anxiety there, though it was questionable as to who, Max or Camille, was more out of sorts. We were only twenty minutes away and Max always picked up Camille from preschool while I slaved away behind a fryer at McDonald's. Then Max met Anna and suddenly he couldn't pick Camille up all the time, so I had to take fewer and fewer shifts. I really disliked her, she was nasty to me and ignored Camille as much as possible, but I put up with her for Max's sake. Luckily Anna had a sensitive stomach so she wasn't interested in theme park rides, she spent her days besides the pool at the hotel drinking cocktails. When the week was over we were all sitting in the Orlando airport waiting for our flight to New York City, we were planning on spending a week there before flying to Disneyland in California for a week and then home. Camille could barely contain her excitement, her blonde curls bouncing up and down as she bounded around the seated waiting area, I looked at my beautiful child, she looked a lot like me but there was a lot of her biological father in there too. Blaze had dyed green and blue hair when I knew him so it was a a huge mystery as to what colour my little girls hair would be. When she came out a bunch of soft blonde hair I was surprised, my hair was a dark auburn with a reddish undertone, there was not a hint of blonde in our whole family. Camille looked as though someone had pulled her out of a kids clothing catalogue with her blonde hair, bright blue eyes and perfectly tanned skin, something she did not get from me. I had skin so pale that people had thrown the term vampire around, my eyes were blue too but a much darker shade, not quite grey but not quite blue either. Max got all the looks out of the two of us, he always got the girls, the facial structure and features that made him a heart throb seemed to be out of proportion on me when we were younger, I had grown into my looks according to our grandmother, I was no great beauty but I was not exactly ugly either. I had been on a few dates since Blaze but nothing stuck, I was busy working, being a mother and trying to get my degree in Education, I didn't have time for men. I fondly watched my brother playing with my daughter and felt completely content with everything in my life at that moment. Then the announcement came over the PA system.

"Flight 302 to New York is now boarding sections A to C in terminal seven." the pleasant voice chimed, Camille looked over at me with wide, excited eyes as she had with every single announcement for the last hour. I nodded and grinned at my little girl and she whooped.

"Uncle Maxy! Uncle Maxy! We can get on the plane now! Come on! Come on!" she bubbled as she tugged at his sleeve. I laughed and grabbed my heavy duty backpack, it was full of Camilles things, her toys, some books, colouring books, pencils, I felt like a pack horse but I would do anything to keep my baby happy. Anna sniffed and rose from her seat.

"I think I might ask to be seated away from the little..." she paused looking at Camille, "darling. I have a headache and she is far too loud." she finished. I ground my teeth but kept my mouth shut, I was actually glad I wouldn't have to listen to her inane babbling for the next three hours.

"Come on chickadee!" I motioned to Camille and she bounced over grabbing my hand. We boarded the plane and sat in our seats, Anna and Max were seated elsewhere after Anna caused a huge fuss, she threw bigger tantrums than Camille. A few minutes after settling in a blonde woman who looked to be in her early thirties sat down next to me, she was holding a little baby boy and had a young girl with her too, the little girl was just as blonde as the mother and had a big smile on her face the second she saw Camille. A fairly handsome man with a teen boy settled in the seats across the aisle, I knew the boy was her son because all three were the spitting image of her. The woman smiled and held out her hand to me.

"Hi, I'm Lydia." she said in an upper-class British accent, "this is Sienna my nine year old, that's my husband Grant and our fourteen year old Ethan, and this," she grinned bouncing the baby, "is Spencer, he's six months."

"I'm Zara and this is Camille, she's four." I smiled and shook her hand.

"Oh Australian?" she asked and I nodded.

"Mummy, can I play with the little girl?" the girl asked, her mother looked at me and I nodded again.

"Sure honey, just play nice." the woman told her, I switched seat with the little girl and Camille looked as though she had just met Barbie.

"So, holiday?" Lydia asked me.

"Yeah with my brother and his girlfriend, we've been to Disney world, next is New York, then Disneyland before back home. You?" I asked.

"Well my husband's parents live in a retirement community down here, we live up in New York, so we are heading home." she smiled again. The little baby was cooing and her daughter was showing Camille how to draw a rose, it looked like this was going to be a nice relaxing flight. I could not have been more wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Lydia and I chatted like old friends for about an hour and a half, talking about our kids, our homes, our job and our families. Lydia was a clerk in one of those upscale boutiques in TriBeCa, she laughed and told me she was sure the only reason she got hired there was because of he accent. She said she would love to show me around the area and I happily agreed. I asked her about her family in Britain, she showed me a picture of her and her younger sister. They were almost identical, same blonde hair, same green eyes. Her name was Melinda, Lydia told me, she was about eight years younger and at twenty four was one of the youngest members of an elite force within the British SAS. I could see the pride of Lydias face as she talked about the accomplishments of her little sister, the only time I saw a flicker of disappointment was when she told me that because of the tough training regiment that came with her job, she hadn't seen her sister in almost eleven months, and because of this, Spencer hadn't met his aunt, but she was hoping that she would get time off in a month or two and come for a visit. I told Lydia about my studies and about Max, she asked about the woman he was with and I launched into a small tirade about how much I disliked Anna, Lydia laughed and told me all about Melindas ex boyfriend who the whole family hated and how glad they all were when her sister kicked him to the curb. It would happen in time, she assured me. I had only know this woman for a short time but I really liked her, she was down to earth and clearly loved her kids. We had just finished trading birth stories when a announcement came over the PA system.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, we have received a message from control informing us that we will need to put the plane down at the nearest airport. We are unsure of the full details at this stage but we are sure that it should just be a short delay before we are back in the air. The nearest airport to our current location is Baldwin County Airport in Milledgeville Georgia, please remain in your seats while we wait for instructions. As you can see we have just turned on the 'Fasten Seatbelts' sign so please buckle up. And as always we hope you are having a lovely day."

I wondered what the issue could be as I strapped Camille into her seat. The captain had said it was nothing serious, so I wasn't too worried. I continued chatting to Lydia as the plane made its descent. We taxied onto the runway and sat there for half an hour before another announcement was made.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking, we have just been informed that all passengers will be required to disembark from the aircraft and board a shuttle headed to Atlanta. This is all the information we have received so far. Please remain calm and follow the instructions given to you by our stewardesses. And as always we hope you are having a lovely day." This message sent a wave of anxiety through me, it was clear to everyone on the plane that the captain was panicked, that there was more to what was going on than we were being told. I undid Camilles seatbelt, put on our backpack and grabbed onto her hand tightly. We left the plane in an orderly fashion and were directed to a small waiting area where the passengers of another flight were already milling around. I saw Max and Anna and waved them over to where Camille and I were standing with Lydia and her family.

"You ok?" Max asked me as they joined our little group. I nodded and squeezed Camilles hand, something about the whole situation was off, I just felt incredibly uneasy, but I didn't want to show it in front of the kids. We waited around for what felt like an eternity before a group of men dressed all in black with guns came charging into the room yelling and shooting the in the direction they had come from. They ordered us to the back of the room, we could hear a strange moaning sound coming from outside. One of the men began to turn a group of tables onto their sides forming a barrier.

"Get behind the tables!" one shouted and none of us hesitated.

"Mummy, what's happening?" Camille asked as we cowered behind a table.

"I'm not sure chickadee, but every thing's going to ok baby. I promise." I told her, hugging her close. I looked around and met Lydias eye, she grimaced slightly and went back to comforting her kids. Spencer was grizzling and she was doing her best to calm him. Suddenly there was a huge bang from outside by the door. The moaning was getting louder and louder. It was clear whatever was making the noise was right outside the door.

"There's too many of them!"

"We have to use the other door and get these people out!"

"But they're out there too!"

"We have to try!" the men yelled back and forth.

"Ok, well we should get the ones with little one out first!"

"Agreed, start getting them to the buses!" the man who I assumed was the leader yelled and another man jumped up and headed over to our hiding spot.

"You guys, with the kids, come with me!" he motioned to our group and two separate groups behind a different table with a few young children. We got up and followed him heading out the back door, another man in black bringing up the rear. We were ushered quickly across the car park towards a blue shuttle.

"Look straight ahead, don't look around!" our leader called back. Suddenly Sienna shrieked loudly, right near us was a man. He had torn, bloodied clothes, his face was bloated and scarred, he shuffled along moaning and gnashing his teeth. The thing that was most shocking about this man was he was missing an arm, blood dripped from the gaping wound. Sienna continued to scream as the man approached and our leader screamed at her to shut up. Lydia tried to calm her but she wouldn't stop, she was clearly in such a state of pure panic that she didn't see or hear anything else but this monster. She broke away from the group and took of running. Lydia called out to her to stop but Sienna kept going. Lydia threw the bag she was carrying to the ground and pushed Spencer into my arms before running off after her. Her husband called out and when neither responded he took off as well, their eldest son Ethan went to run too but Max grabbed his arm, pulling him back. The man in black behind us swore and followed them.

"Keep moving forward!" the leader ordered. I turned to Max and he scooped up the bag Lydia had dropped before dragging Ethan with him towards the shuttle. At that moment we heard a metallic thud, I looked for the source of the sound and saw that a fence had fallen over, behind it were a whole group of men, women and children, shuffling and moaning in the same way the first man had. All of them looked like extras in a horror film, sunken, yellowed skin, gaping wounds dripping blood, missing limbs and that wasn't even mentioning the stench these things gave off. I looked over to see that Lydia had caught up with Sienna and was leading her back to the group. But it was too late, one of the things grabbed Lydias hair and pulled her back.

"Run Sienna!" she screamed as the thing bit down on her arm. Sienna was crying hysterically and frozen on the spot. Grant ran to her but a woman in a blood soaked business suit got there first, dragging the girl to the ground the woman began biting and ripping at her legs. I could hear both her and her mother screaming in agony as more and more of the horde fell upon them, clamouring for a mouthful. I saw out of the corner of my eye Grant take off in another direction. You could smell the fresh blood as the monsters tore them apart. I tried my best to shield Camilles eyes but I knew she had seen the grizzly event. Tears streamed down Ethans face as he struggled against my brothers grip.

"I have to help them!" he cried feebly as we reached the bus and were guided on. I sat down with Camille and Spencer who was now screaming at the top of his little lungs, Max rifled through the bag and found a pacifier, which I gave to him and he settled down. The bus started up.

"Wait! Aren't we going to wait for the others!?" someone yelled. We all looked out the window to see other passengers running from the small building, they were being chased by more of the things. We waited as five more passengers made it to the bus, our leader checked the first four over before letting them on. When he got to the third, a young man, maybe a few years older than me, he raised his gun. We all yelled at the armed man to stop but he kept the gun pointed at the young mans head.

"That wound, how did you get it?!" he shouted, the young man looked baffled, "did you get bit or scratched?"

"Yeah one of those things bit me, but it's not that bad I'll be..." a shot rang out. The man in black had shot him point blank in the head.

"Close the door and get us out of here!" he yelled at the driver, who complied straight away. The whole bus had erupted in cries and shouts, we had just watched a man get shot, for no apparent reason. The shooter put his hand up to try and quieten everyone down, when this didn't work he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Ok first things first everyone shut the hell up and listen to me!" he bellowed and the bus went silent, " if you want to live, listen." he began.

"What are those things?" someone from the back asked.

"We call them Walkers." he replied grimly, "they are dead, they come back and attack and try and eat people, if you get bitten or scratched by one, you become one of them. That is why I had to shoot that guy, he got tagged, if he had of gotten on this bus he would have turned and killed us all. Now we are headed to the safe zone in Atlanta, the rest of the army are there now. Just sit tight and we will be there soon." he finished and sat down. Not one person spoke, we were all reeling from this information. The dead were coming back and attacking people? How could this have happened? I looked from Camille who was burrowed under my arm, to Ethan who was sitting with Max and then down at Spencer who was drifting off to sleep. These two boys were now orphans and Camille, Max, Anna and I were in the midst of some god awful plague in a completely foreign place. I knew I had a duty to look after the boys, they had no one else but I couldn't help wonder what had made Lydia pass the baby to me and not her husband. I settled in my seat hugging the two small kids close, hoping that Atlanta would be safe.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

We had been on the road for, in gridlocked traffic for almost seven hours when we finally caught sight of the city of Atlanta. It was dusk and the driver decided that we had been stuck in the bus for way too long, he shut down the engine and opened the door for us to get out and stretch our legs. The man in black, who we had learned was a soldier in the elite army group known as the Delta Force, told us to stay close to the bus and come back the second he called us. I grabbed Camilles hand and put Spencer on my hip before stepping off the bus into the cool evening air. I wandered to the front of the, keeping my eyes out for any trouble and listening to the sounds of people chatting. It looked like most people had stopped and were walking around on the highway. The car in front of us was a rusted old pick-up and sitting in the back was a middle aged woman with close cropped silver hair and a little girl who looked around eleven, they tired and the woman had a large bruise on her left cheek. As I approached the girl smiled at me and the kids.

"Hi," I smiled back, "I'm Zara and this is Camille and Spencer."

"Hi." the girl said quietly looking at her feet.

"Sophia don't be rude," the woman said nudging the girl, "I'm Carol and this is my daughter Sophia." she smiled and winced as the stretching of the skin made the bruise ache.

"Nice to meet you, how old are you Sophia?" I asked.

"Twelve." she answered.

"Do you want to play?" Camille asked her looking hopeful, Sophia grinned and nodded, jumping up.

"Not too far from the car girls!" Carol called smiling, "so, how old's this little man?"

"Um six months, I think." I answered slightly shakily. Carol looked at me surprised.

"You don't know? He isn't yours?" she looked at me suspiciously.

"Well no, his mother handed him to me before she was killed by those thing we are all running from, I've been looking after him, all he has left is his older brother, who is not in any state to take care of a baby." I sighed realising how complicated things had gotten. Carol reached out and touched my arm.

"Well good on you for being willing to help. So from your accent I can tell you aren't from around here. Where's home?" she asked as I sat down next to her on the tailgate.

"Australia. This was meant to be our dream holiday." I sighed again.

"Wow, that's a tough break." she said sympathetically. The two girls came running up with a young boy who looked around the same age as Sophia.

"Look mummy, we found a boy to play with!" Camille bounced with excitement.

"Hi, I'm Carl." the young boy waved to us.

"Well hey there Carl, I'm Carol and this is Zara and Spencer, thanks for playing with the girls. You kids hungry?" Carol asked with a smile. The drivers side door of the pick-up swung open and then slammed and immediately Carols smile dropped. A heavy set middle aged man, with short brown hair stormed to the back of the pick-up, growling the whole way.

"God damn it woman, how many times I have to tell you, stop offerin' ta share our supplies!" he thundered glaring at Carol, "and you!" he snarled, whirling around to look at Sophia, "how many times I have to say stay with the truck!"

"Yes Ed, sorry Ed." Carol cringed as Sophia scurried to her mothers side. Carl and Camille looked to me in confusion. Ed turned to glare at me.

"You better go now." he snarled and I stood up, this guy was three times bigger than me and I really didn't want to risk the safety of the kids, so I turned to Carl.

"Hey Carl, how about you take me to meet your parents." I said and Ed skulked back to the front of the pick-up I put my hand on Carols shoulder when I was sure he was completely out of hearing range whispered to her.

"If you need anything, I'm with the bus group, please don't hesitate." I said flashing Sophia a small smile and following Carl to the car in front.

"Mom, Shane, this is Zara and her baby Spencer and this is Camille, she's four, they're from Australia!" he said excitedly. The woman and man looked up from their conversation and gave me a once over.

"Hi, nice to meet you." I said extending my hand to the woman.

"Hi, I'm Lori and this is Shane." she said briskly and the man nodded at me.

"Come on Camille, let's play tag!" Carl tapped Camille on the shoulder and they took off running.

"Not to far Carl!" Lori yelled as the kids chased each other, "so Australia?" she raised an eyebrow. I nodded and jiggled Spencer slightly as he began to fuss.

"Yeah, we visited Disney World and were on our way to New York when we were diverted here, you?" I asked.

"We are from King County, down the road a ways." Shane piped up, "we heard there was a safe zone in Atlanta so we got in the car and came." he said not looking up from the map spread out on the trunk of the car.

"Shane and my husband were partners at the police department there." Lori explained.

"Oh," I said unsure of what to say, "well Carl seems like a lovely kid."

"Thanks," she smiled, her face softening slightly, "so how old is your baby?"

"Oh he's not mine, his mother gave him to me before she died, before today I didn't know him." I explained.

"Well you seem like a natural with him." she smiled again. Suddenly there was a loud whooshing sound above us. Camille and Carl came running back.

"Look mummy a big plane!" Camille pointed up to the sky, sure enough flying overhead were two planes, they looked military. They were flying towards the city.

"I wonder what's going on?" Lori asked looking at Shane but he didn't say anything, his eyes fixed on the lights of the city ahead. Then, without any warning there was a huge explosion and the horizon lit up in flames, we could now see that the planes were dropping bombs on Atlanta.

"What's going on?" I asked no one in particular, "isn't that supposed to be the safe zone?"

"Oh god, Shane what's happening?" Lori cried watching the carnage. Shane remained silent, never taking his eyes off the city. Camille huddled into my leg and Spencer wailed as another explosion ripped through the Atlanta skyline. The soldier and a few other men ran past.

"We are taking vehicles into the city to see what is happening, we've lost radio contact. Everyone stay with your vehicles until we return!" he yelled. I stood dumbstruck as one final bomb went off, I looked over to Lori who was now crying and Shane took her into his arms. When the last explosion had died down, everything was deadly quiet.

"We can't go to Atlanta." Shane said flatly.

"But where can we go?" Lori asked shaking slightly from crying.

"Our best bet would be to gather as many people and supplies as possible and set up camp somewhere nearby, in case someone comes to help." he replied.

"We can't stay on the road though." I said looking into distance.

"Why?" they asked at the same time.

"Well, what if those things are the reason they dropped those bombs? What if they missed some, this road is the main road in and out right?" I replied and Shane nodded, "if those things decide to leave the city, they would take the road. I've seen what they can do, we don't want to get in their way." I finished shuddering at the thought of what happened to Sienna and Lydia. Shane stared at me for a moment before turning back to the map.

"She's right, we need to be off the highway." he agreed his eyes flicking quickly as he searched. He stopped and pointed to a spot on the map, I peered over and saw what looked like a quarry.

"This quarry is disused," he said looking at Lori and I, "it is sheltered, near fresh water and close enough that help could find us but not so close that any wandering monsters would stumble on us so easily. This place is our best chance of waiting whatever this is out."

"Sounds good." Lori replied looking at Shane with adoration. Shane turned to me.

"You in?" he asked. I was surprised, I had just met these people and they were asking if I would set up camp with them. Talk about Southern hospitality. But I knew it was the best chance I had of getting the kids somewhere safe.

"I'm in, I just have to talk to the rest of my group." I answered.

"How many are you?" Shane asked searching my face.

"There's me and my daughter, my twin brother Max, his girlfriend, Spencer and his big brother Ethan. Also I would want to ask the family in the pick-up behind you. They look like they could use a helping hand. Plus there are a few others from our bus, but I can't speak for them." I answered, Shane thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Well you go talk to them and let us know, we are leaving in twenty minutes, so don't dawdle."

I nodded and raced back to the bus with Camille and Spencer. I found Max sitting with Ethan on the bus steps, I explained the situation and he wasn't convinced.

"Zara, you just met these people! What if they are serial killers?" he asked and I laughed.

"Yeah totally Max, two families with kids are killers. Look you saw as well as I did what happened to the so called safe zone and you also saw what those things can do."

"Walkers," Ethan mumbled, "the soldier called them Walkers."

"Right. The Walkers are dangerous. We have to get off the road. We have to keep the kids safe." I implored him. Max sat quietly for a moment and put his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry." he muttered.

"What?" I replied confused.

"This is my fault, I brought you here and look what happened!"

I kicked him gently.

"Max, it isn't your fault, shit happens ok? We need to focus on what to do next." I said.

"Ok," he looked up at me, "I'll get Anna, you grab the bags." he got up and headed over to where Anna was talking with someone from the bus. I walked onto the bus and grabbed my bag, the small backpack Max had been carrying and Spencer's diaper bag. As I exited the bus and began to walk towards Shane and Lori, I noticed Ethan wasn't following. I spun around and went back.

"Ethan, are you coming?" I asked gently. He didn't say anything and kept staring into space.

"Ethan?" I asked again putting my hand gently on his shoulder.

"No!" he screamed flinging my hand away, "no, you aren't my family!"

"I know that buddy," I sighed, "and I wish that your mum and sister were here, but it's just you and Spencer. Your mum gave me Spencer, so I have to look after him and I want to look after you too, I know you are hurting, but right now we have to do whatever we can to be safe. Right now that means going with these people. It's your choice of course, I can't force you, but I really hope you will come with us." I said wanting so badly to give the poor kid a hug. Ethan looked at me with tears streaming down his face and then looked at his little brother. Camille let go of my hand and walked over to him.

"Please come." she said quietly taking his hand. He looked at her and nodded, I gave him a smile, grabbed Camilles hand and headed towards Shane and Lori. Shane seemed to know what he was doing. All I hoped was that he would help keep us safe and that my trust wasn't misplaced.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It didn't take very long for us to find the quarry that Shane had found on the map. It was still dark when we came across the clearing. Shane had managed to round up quite a few people, there was a blonde woman about the same age as Lori and her younger sister who was my age, a Hispanic man with his wife and two kids, and an older man with an RV, as well as Shane, Lori, Carl, Carol, Ed, Sophia, Max, Anna, Ethan, Camille, Spencer and I. It was clear that everyone was exhausted but we couldn't rest until everyone had a place to sleep. Because everyone else had packed for the situation, they all had tents, our little group however only had what we had carried with us onto the plane. Luckily some of the group were much more prepared.

"I have two tents you can use," the older man said to Max, "I can sleep in my RV." he smiled handing them over.

"Thanks so much!" said Max, gladly accepting them, "I'm Max, this is my girlfriend Anna, my sister Zara and her daughter Camille. These two are Spencer and Ethan, they were with us on the bus out of the airport." Max said pointing to us each in turn.

"I'm Dale and that's Andrea and Amy," he said pointing to the two blonde women, "I picked them up in Fort Valley being chased by those things."

"The soldiers were calling them Walkers." said Max and Dale clicked his tongue.

"Walkers huh? As good a name as any I guess." he mused.

"Thank you for the tents Dale." I smiled and the old man smiled back.

"No problems, if you need anything else, let me know."

"Likewise." I replied with a nod. Dale nodded back and headed into the RV. I looked over the camp-site, Shane had already set up a tent for Lori and Carl and was setting up the tent for himself, the women who I now knew were Andrea and Amy were finishing their tent and the Hispanic family were beginning to set up theirs. I couldn't see where Carol, Ed and Sophia were.

"Ok well, obviously one tent will be for me and these two," I motioned to Camille and Spencer, "and the other is for you and Anna, then Ethan can decide which tent he wants to stay in."

"Sure, well I will set up yours first so you can get the kids to sleep. Anna can you help me?" he asked his girlfriend, who was currently sitting on a tree stump.

"I might break a nail or get dirty!" she squealed shaking her head. I sighed and rolled my eyes.

"Well could you at least hold Spencer so I can help?" I asked her holding Spencer out to her.

"Um ew, I don't do babies." she replied turning her nose up, I groaned loudly and she glared at me.

"Useless!" I muttered under my breath turning away from her.

"What did you say? You slut!" she hissed.

"Excuse me!" I yelled, "why the hell am I a slut?"

"Well you couldn't keep your legs closed and you have that brat to prove it!" she screamed.

"Call me what you want but don't you dare call my daughter a brat, she's much more polite and kind than you are so shut you god damned mouth!"

"LADIES!" Max yelled, "stop fighting!"

"Sorry Max but your girlfriend just insulted us both, you might be ok with her calling your family names but I'm not, all I asked was her to hold Spencer so we could get this done, she has been nothing but difficult from the start and you know it. Normally I wouldn't say anything but with these Walkers running around and killing people, she needs to come down to earth and stop with the pampered princess act before she gets herself or someone else killed!" I ranted. Max turned back to the tent and Anna got up and stormed off over to where Shane was. I felt someone tap me on the shoulder, turning around I saw Carol and Sophia behind me.

"Oh god, I am so sorry you saw that just now." I said mortified but Carol just smiled.

"It's ok, someone had to say something. I was just going to ask if you wanted me to watch the kids while you put up the tents?" she asked.

"Oh Carol that would be amazing thank you and you to Sophia," I smiled handing Spencer over, "I'll come grab them once we are done, you are an angel. Camille go play with Sophia ok baby?" I nudged her and she grinned at me before taking Sophia's hand. I turned back around and began helping Max with the tent. I could tell he wasn't exactly mad at me but he wasn't happy either.

"Max, I am sorry but you know I'm right, she can't sit around all the time, we need to all work together."

"I know but I love her Zara, I really want you two to get along." he mumbled.

"Well for a start maybe she could not call me and my daughter names." I rolled my eyes and Max nodded. Setting up the tent didn't take very long, it was one of those four man pop up deals, once we had set that up I looked over to where Camille was playing happily and Carol was sitting with Spencer on her knee.

"Well while those two are happy I will help you get the other tent up." I said. We started setting up the other tent and realised this one was a little bit more complex, we had been struggling for around fifteen minutes when the Hispanic man came over.

"Need some help?" he asked with a good natured smile.

"Definitely!" I grinned back throwing my hands up, the man chuckled and began to help.

"I'm Morales, that's my wife Miranda and our daughter Eliza and son Louis, we were on the highway out of Atlanta when the bombing happened, we were on our way to Alabama to check on Mirandas folks." Morales explained, "lucky for us or we would have been caught up in all that craziness in the city." he shuddered slightly.

"I'm Zara, this is Max, my brother, his girlfriend Anna is the brunette in the short skirt. My daughter Camille is the little one over there."

"What about the boy and the baby?" he asked fiddling with a tent pole.

"Ethan is the older boy and Spencer is the bub, their family was killed by the Walkers at the airport in Milledgeville. Well their mum and sister was, I didn't see what happened to their dad." I frowned looking for the tent pegs.

"Where are you guys from anyway?" he asked.

"Australia, great time for a holiday right?" I rolled my eyes and Morales laughed.

"Yeah, wow, talk about the worst possible timing." he chuckled as he bashed on of the pegs into the hard ground. I rolled my eyes again and laughed with him as I did the same.

"There you go." Morales got up and brushed off his knees.

"Thanks a lot mate." Max said holding out his hand.

"Mate, how Australian!" Morales said shaking my brothers hand, "well we are just over there, if you need help, you know who to call." he pointed to his tent, where his wife was settling their children. I grinned at Morales.

"Ghostbusters?" I asked cheekily and Morales and Max both laughed loudly, " I better go grab these kids." I said heading over to Carol.

"Hey Carol, thanks a bundle. Ok time for bed Camille." I said scooping up Spencer.

"Ok mama!" Camille bounced grabbing my hand, then she looked like she had forgotten something. She ran back over to Sophia and gave her a hug before bounding up to Carol and giving her one too.

"Night!" she called waving to them. They both said goodnight and waved back. I lead Camille over to the tent and saw that we now had two small mats and two sleeping bags beside our tent. I looked a Max questioningly.

"Dale had them, he said he wouldn't need them. Also Morales had a spare for Ethan and Shane gave Anna and I a blanket to use." he told me. I smiled widely, we were very lucky to have found a group like this one, so willing to share resources. I turned to Ethan who was sitting on the stump Anna had been using before she wandered of to shamelessly flirt with Shane.

"So which tent do you want to stay in?" I asked him and he shrugged.

"Yours I guess." he said quietly and I nodded unzipping the tent and waving him in before grabbing the supplies and setting up the kids sleeping area. I settled Camille in and kissed her, she was asleep within minutes. Ethan had settled himself on the far side of the tent so I set up the sleeping bag for Spencer and I on the other side. I called out goodnight to Max who was in his tent beside us and got myself comfortable with Spencer in my arms. It had been a very long day. I could hear Shane talking to Dale about guard duty but my eyes were heavy and I began to drift off, hoping that tomorrow would be less eventful.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

When Camille nudged me awake the next morning, I could hear the sounds of activity in the camp. I was pretty impressed that both Camille and Spencer had slept through the night. I looked over to Ethan's spot and saw him still fast asleep, curled up in the sleeping bag. I put my finger to my lips and shushed Camille, she nodded and we quietly exited the tent. I could see that Max was already up, he was over talking to Shane. Morales and his family were up and sitting by a fire and so was Carol and Sophia. Carol was heating up something over the fire and Sophia was playing a card game with Carl. I headed over to them and sat down on one of the logs around the fire pit.

"Morning." I said more cheerily than I felt.

"Morning, how did you sleep?" Carol asked, flipping what I could now see was a pancake.

"Yeah better than expected." I stretched slightly, "Camille not to close to the fire baby."

"Would you like some pancakes? Carl and Sophia have already had some."

"Oh wow that would be amazing. We haven't eaten since the plane." I smiled at her and she smiled back, I could see a fresh bruises that looked like a set of fingerprints on her shoulder blade. Carol saw me looking and covered them quickly.

"Carol..." I said carefully.

"No Zara it's ok really, don't worry." she stuttered looking terrified.

"Ok, but if you need help, just ask." I put my hand on her arm and smiled, she gave me a shaky smile back and continued cooking the pancakes. When she was done, Camille and I had a few each, and I gave some bits to Spencer, I was unsure whether or not he was onto solids yet but he scoffed them down, they were absolutely delicious. I asked Carol if she could make a few more for Ethan, she graciously agreed and I went to wake him up. The poor kid had dark black circles under his eyes but he seemed to perk up a little after eating. I asked him if he wanted to hold Spencer and hang out with the other kids while I talked to the adults and he was happy to. He smiled at his little brother and cuddled him close. I paused seeing this once surly boy show so much affection.

"Ethan?" I said quietly.

"Yeah?" he said looking up at me.

"I know this is really hard, but you don't have to keep it all in ok? If you want to talk, or yell or cry or anything, I'm here. I can tell you are a pretty responsible kid but you don't have to do it alone." I smiled at him and he gave me a tiny hint of a smile back.

"Thanks." he mumbled and turned back to the card game. I turned to look for Shane but he was nowhere to be seen, so I walked over to Dale instead, he was standing with the two blonde women.

"Hey Dale, thanks for the mats and the sleeping bags, they were a huge help," I looked at the two women, "hi, we haven't been formally introduced, I'm Zara."

The older of the two stuck out her hand and I shook it.

"I'm Andrea and this is my baby sister Amy. Dale told us a bit about you and you little clan and I have to say it is pretty commendable of you to take care of those two boys, quite a few people would have just dumped them on someone else." she looked at me intensely.

"I couldn't do that, they don't have anyone else, I mean their mothers last act was giving them to me. I just feel responsible." I finished. Andrea nodded and looked as if she was pleased with my answer. I looked back at Dale.

"So what needs doing around here? What can I help with?" I asked eager to repay the kindness of the previous night.

"Not sure as of this moment, I was talking to Shane about getting water but he was called away by the woman he was with." he answered.

"Lori," I said and Dale nodded, "well if you need help with anything, let me know."

"Sure thing." Dale smiled and I walked back over to the kids. Camille was watching intently as Carl, Sophia, Louis and Eliza played a game of snap. Ethan sat watching with Spencer and Carol and Miranda chatted away. You would have thought it was any other camping trip if the memories of watching people being eaten alive weren't so fresh. I scanned the surrounding forest area, it had been much to dark when we had arrived to see much further than the fire light. I could see the path that I assumed led down to the water and the path from the road we had trekked in from but other than that we were completely sheltered by forest on one side and forest and a mountain on the other. It seemed pretty safe here. As I was scanning the area I saw Shane and Lori emerge from the trees, not near either of the paths, they looked slightly dishevelled and the buttons on Shane's shirt were done up wrong. It was easy to guess what they had just been doing but that was their business, I didn't know them well enough to make any sort of judgement. Lori went over to check on Carl and Shane headed to Dale. It seemed like I had been the only one to see their return. Shane approached me.

"You said you wanted to help?" he asked in his stern way. I nodded, wondering if he knew that I had seen them. He beckoned to me and followed him over to a bunch of plastic containers and bottles.

"We have to get water for everyone but I can't figure out how to make sure it is clean. Any ideas?" he looked at me. I thought for a moment.

"Well our best bet would be to designate containers for the filtered water, so we will need a permanent marker, then cut some of the bottles in half, poke holes in the bottoms and the lids so we can use both halves, then we grab charcoal from the fire and layer it into the bottles, hang them up and let the water drip through. That will filter it, then we can boil it if need be, also it would be a good idea for us to set up a few containers for rainwater too." I answered. Shane looked at me puzzled.

"How on earth do you know all that?" he stood staring at me in amazement.

"You ever watched a show called Doomsday Preppers?" I asked him and he shook his head, "well I used to watch it all the time back home, I used to laugh at the survivalist people they showed but now I am glad I watched it, it was full of this stuff."

"Ok cool well let's get to it." Shane began rifling through a bag near his feet for a marker and knife. Once he found them we set about making the filtration system.

"How are we on food?" I asked him and he grunted, "that good hey?"

"We have enough to feed the group for three to four days." he replied flatly.

"Yikes, well maybe the water will have fish, does anyone here know how to hunt?"

"Well I can shoot but I don't know about the others."

"Hmm," I mused, "well I'm sure we can figure something out."

"You seem pretty calm considering you are in a strange country with a bunch of people you don't know, looking after three kids, two of which aren't even yours." Shane looked me up and down, as if really taking me in for the first time. I shrugged.

"What's the other option? Panic? Get myself and probably my daughter killed? Dump the poor kids who lost the rest of their family? Sure I could curl up into a ball and cry but a better use of my time is keeping those kids and myself safe. You understand, as a police officer, people react to a crisis situations differently. I guess either the shock hasn't set in or I just handle shit better than most." I told him and he laughed.

"Fair enough." he chuckled cutting a bottle in half. We chatted about our lives before all the mayhem for a few minutes while making the water filters. When we were done Shane thanked me and called out to Max to come help him collect water, I offered to help but he told me to take a break and check on the kids, I was happy to do just that. When I joined the others Miranda was holding Spencer while Ethan and Camille played soccer with the other kids. I sat down around the fire and took Spencer back, he seemed happy to see me and began to make cooing sounds, I smiled and kissed his chubby little hand. He really was a happy little baby. Suddenly we heard rustling coming from the path leading to the road, we all tensed up, expecting Walkers, but instead out popped a young Asian man, around my age, an African American man a little older, two middle aged white men and a middle aged Hispanic woman. Dale still had his gun raised from the top of the RV, just in case.

"Who goes there?" he called and the group all put their hands up.

"Don't shoot!" the Asian man called out, "we've just come through a group of Walkers in the city, we aren't monsters, we aren't bitten I swear."

"Ok come on over. None of them followed you did they?" Dale called down.

"Nope!" the African American man called and Dale lowered the gun.

"Thanks, I'm Glenn, this is T-Dog," he said pointing to the African American man, " that's Jim with the dark hair and Caleb is the blonde, and this is Maria." he explained pointing to them each in turn. We each introduced ourselves and our kids, we let the survivors sit down and gave them each something to eat or drink as they explained their daring escape from one of the buildings in the city. Luckily they had been able to grab some extra supplies from a camping store before they were attacked by a barrage of Walkers. They had managed to grab five small pop up tents, a few sleeping bags, some heavy duty torches, some dehydrated food and a couple of canteens. They said they only needed three of the tents, so Dale put the others away in the RV in case more survivors turned up. As we sat around and talked, Miranda and I started to prepare food for the group, Shane and Max came back. I was happy to hear that the large stretch of water did in fact contain fish. As we ate a simple meal of bread, sausages, potatoes and beans, Glenn told us about fully stocked supermarkets he had passed on the way out. Shane was watching him carefully, I could see that he was working things out in his head, he saw me looking at him and nodded.

"Glenn, do you think you could show us these places?" he asked watching his reaction.

"Maybe, but we couldn't have too many people go, more people, more likely it is we attract Walkers, but maybe a group of three including me, we could get in and out no issue." Glenn said swallowing his food.

"Could you take us tomorrow?" Shane asked and Glenn did a double take.

"Really? We just got out of there!" he sputtered.

"I know but we need supplies badly, we are up to twenty four people, we had barely enough to feed the whole group for more than a few days before you showed up." Shane explained and Glenn nodded solemnly.

"Ok tomorrow, who is coming?" he asked looking around.

"I am, " Shane said before looking me straight in the eyes, "and so is Zara."

"Me?" I asked at the same time Glenn said "Her?"

"Yes her, she was the one who knew how to make the water filters, she seems knowledgeable, I need you Zara." Shane said not taking his eyes off me. I swallowed hard and looked at the group, my eyes resting on Ethan who had Camille in his lap.

"Ok." I said resolutely.

"No! Zara! You cant!" Max jumped up whipping around to Shane, "I'll go, you can't make her!" he yelled angrily.

"Max, he's right, I know what we need, you know I do, you used to make fun of me for watching all the survivalist shows all the time right, you know how much I do know. I'll be ok." I tried to calm him down.

"No! I... Just... Grrrr!" he growled storming off to the tent. I jumped up to go after him but Shane rose from his seat and stopped me.

"Let him cool off." he told me and stroked my arm gently, I looked over and saw a flash of jealousy in Loris eyes. I went and sat back down with Lori glaring at me the whole time.

"Tomorrow at sun up we will meet ready to go into town, right?" Glenn looked over at me.

"Sure thing." I nodded sounding much more sure than I felt. I wondered if I would be able to sleep tonight with the prospect of having to possibly face Walkers in the morning. I doubted it.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I did not sleep well the night before our trip into Atlanta. I was terrified of something going wrong and leaving the kids behind, I mean I trusted Max, but as of late he had been choosing Anna over us, what was there to stop her from demanding he dump them on someone else. A million thought ran through my head, each of them coming back to one central theme, why on earth had Shane picked me to come into the city? I could have easily told someone else what we needed. But I didn't want to rock the boat, he was the leader and he obviously felt he had good reason to ask me to come. Still something about it felt strange. When the sun began to rise, I quietly took a still sleeping Spencer out of the tent and handed him off to Miranda who was already up. I thanked her for offering to watch him and joined Shane and Glenn. Shane had his map spread out over a card table that Dale had pulled out of the RV. Glenn was marking on the map all of the supermarkets in the city and they were planning the route.

"Hey sorry, I didn't realise I was late." I yawned rubbing my face.

"You're not, don't stress." Glenn said giving me a sleepy smile.

"I woke him up early, I felt like we needed to plan as soon as we could." Shane explained. I nodded and stretched, the morning air was still quite cool and luckily it was waking me up quickly.

"So what's the plan?" I asked looking at the map.

"We take Shane's car and hit up these three stores then make like a tree and leave." Glenn answered. I laughed at the stupid pun, I liked this guy. Shane cleared his throat slightly menacingly and our smile both dropped.

"Zara I need you to come up with a list of things you think we need ok?" he said.

"Sure, um Glenn, do any of these places have pharmacies?" I asked. Glenn shook his head.

"No why?" he asked

"Where is the closest pharmacy to these places?"

"Here." he pointed to a spot a little way up the street.

"We need to extend our run to cover there."

"Why?" Shane asked.

"Because we are going to need things like antibiotics and aspirin. We will be screwed if we wait until after someone gets sick. The more supplies we have sooner, the better off we will be in the long run. And the more we take with us now, the less will will have to go into the city later." I explained, Glenn and Shane both looked impressed.

"So that's why he wanted you to come." Glenn said and I shrugged.

"Thank TV," I said nonchalantly, "how long until we leave?"

"Fifteen minutes." Shane said and Glenn nodded.

"Ok, I'll be right back," I said turning around and going back over to Spencer I kissed the top of his head, "see you when I get back buddy." I walked back over to the tent and quietly stepped inside. Ethan was wide awake and sitting up in his sleeping bag.

"You're going into that place aren't you?" he asked and I nodded, a tear rolled down his cheek, " Zara please, the last time someone left..." I knew he was thinking about his mother and sister. I grabbed his hand and squeezed.

"Ethan, I am planning on coming back, I know what those things can do. But I need you to do something for me, can you help Max look after Camille while I'm gone?" I asked looking at his face, he sniffed and nodded, "thanks mate." I hugged him and was surprised when he hugged me back. I let go and went over to where Camille was beginning to wake up.

"Hey baby girl, mummy has to go get some food and things ok, I'll be back later, can you be a good girl for Uncle Max and Ethan while I am gone?" I asked kissing her on the forehead.

"Yes mama." she mumbled sleepily, I smiled at my gorgeous girl.

"Love you baby, to the moon."

"And back mama." Camille replied and I kissed her again before going back to Glenn and Shane. They were waiting for me at the start of the path that lead to the road, when I reached them Shane handed me a machete, it looked brand new. I took it from him and nodded. We were ready. We headed down the path as quietly as possible to the parking area at the end where Shane kept his car. We all piled in and took off down the highway. It was completely deserted, it was quite a shock seeing as just two days ago it was completely full of people in bumper to bumper traffic. Where had all the people gone I wondered. Glenn must have seen my face because he put his hand on my arm reassuringly from the back seat. Shane cleared his throat again and Glenn jumped, moving his hand. I was puzzled again, I pretty much knew for a fact that Shane and Lori were an item, why was he acting a green eyed monster over Glenn? I shrugged it off, I had more important things to worry about, like the fact I could now see Walkers wandering the streets ahead of us. Shane slowed right down and asked Glenn which street he should take. Glenn told him and we headed to the pharmacy. Luckily the pharmacy had a car park out the back so we could back the car right up to the back door, which was open. Glenn quietly crept in with his knife and flash light and I followed as quietly as I could, Shane brought up the rear with his handgun. There were thankfully no Walkers in the pharmacy, Glenn and Shane stood guard while I raided the medicine storage area, I piled as much as I could into a plastic bag. I ducked over into the other parts of the pharmacy and grabbed all their soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, bandages, aspirin and shampoo as well as the large bunch of first aid kits they had. As we were leaving I grabbed a bunch of the chocolates and lollies by the front counter for the kids. Glenn grinned and gave me a conspiratorial wink when he saw my stash, I grinned back and we shoved the supplies into the trunk of the car. We drove a little further down the street and saw that the first of the three supermarkets was completely overrun by Walkers. I could smell them, even with the windows up. They smelled horrid, like a combination of rotten eggs and bad meat. I felt myself gagging slightly and forced myself to suck it up. But it was hard, looking out onto the street as we drove, there were so many gruesome injuries, missing limbs, huge chunks of flesh missing from bodies, eyes and jaws completely gone, stomachs ripped completely open. It was literally the most disgusting thing I had ever seen, but what was even worse was the realisation that these horrible monsters were once people. They might have been mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, lovers, friends and now they were part a writhing mass of the undead. I shuddered at the thought of what it must be like for these people in their last moments, were they dead before they realised what was happening or did they die slowly knowing they would eventually turn into the very thing that had killed them. While I was lost in thought we had arrived at the second store, there were a few Walkers around but it didn't look like there were any in the store. We tried the door and when it swung open we quickly hurried inside before the walkers on the street got wind of us.

"Right, we need canned foods, dried stuff like pasta and rice, toiletries, toilet paper, medicinal stuff no matter what it is, bottled water, coffee filters and if you can find baby formula that would help. They didn't have any at the pharmacy." I told the boys.

"Coffee filters?" Shane raised an eyebrow at me.

"They add an extra layer to the water filters, less sediment, better tasting water." I explained searching the shelf. I saw a bunch of kids toys, a few barbie dolls and some crayons. I grabbed them and shoved them into my bag, the kids deserved a little treat after everything they had been through. I had a thought and raced behind the counter, I had heard that most store clerks in America kept guns behind the counter, it was worth a shot checking.

"Bingo." I muttered to myself as I found a case full of bullets, no gun though, but it was better than nothing. I shoved the case into my bag and turned around to join the boys. In front of me was a what had once been a woman. She was missing part of the side of her face, she had bite marks all over her arms and by the looks of it another walker had bitten off a few fingers, she limped towards me dragging her left ankle that was clearly broken. She smelled absolutely disgusting, I watched in horror as she got closer, I felt a scream rise up in my throat but I quashed it, I knew that if I screamed I would attract more of them. I raised the machete and felt my heart drop into my stomach, I had never killed anything bigger than a cockroach before and here I was brandishing a weapon at a person. She snarled at me, a grey slime oozed from the gap in her face, I remembered what the soldier said, these things weren't human, I knew it was take her down or she would take me down. I stepped a little closer before swinging the machete and catching her on the side of the head, she went down like a sack of bricks but continued to move. I swung down and hit her three more times in the head until she had stopped moving. I stood over her in shock as I heard someone run up to me.

"Oh my god, Zara, are you ok?" I heard Glenns voice, I nodded heavily a few times and looked at him. He looked incredibly surprised, I looked down at my shirt that was now stained with the woman's blood. Shane came running and stopped dead when he saw me.

"Zara what happened?" he asked me, I opened my mouth but nothing came out. He rushed forward and grabbed my bag, tossing it to Glenn he put his arm around me and led me out of the store to the car. He put me in the front seat before helping Glenn. When they were done, Glenn and Shane got in the car, Glenn passed me a T-shirt he must have found in the store. I didn't care where it came from, I just wanted the stench of blood off me, I stripped off the shirt I was wearing not caring if they looked. Glenn looked away, Shane didn't, I pulled the new shirt on and Shane used the old one to wipe the blood from my face and hands. I sat staring at my old shirt on my lap as Shane started the car and began the drive to the next store. We were almost there when I opened the car window and threw the shirt out. As I began to close the window I heard a scream, not the low grunt of the walkers but a high pitched woman's scream, I listened again and sure enough the voice was saying actual words. It was screaming for help. I grabbed Shane's arm.

"Shane! Listen! Someone needs help!" I said shaking slightly. Shane listened and nodded.

"I hear it but we can't stop, besides we don't know where it is coming from." he said flatly. I stared at him in horror.

"It's coming from the city council building just up ahead!" Glenn said looking between me and Shane Shane said nothing and kept staring straight ahead.

"Shane you either stop this car and help me help them, or I will jump out while the car is still moving." I said and he sighed pulling up in front of the building.

"You really are a stubborn bitch." he grumbled, smirking slightly.

"You don't know the half of it." I retorted grabbing the machete, " Glenn, you get in the drivers seat, be ready to go any moment," I told him and he nodded, "come on!" I motioned to Shane as we jumped out of the car. As we raced to the building I could see a group of five people trapped in a small information kiosk as a group of walkers bashed on the glass from the inside of the building.

"Your plan Wonder Woman?" Shane asked scanning the area. I looked around and saw a fire extinguisher near the door.,

"You grab that and break the glass on this side, I'll cover you."

"Two minutes ago you freaked out over killing a walker!"

"Shane there's a kid in there!" I yelled pointing to the group of people. He sighed and grabbed the extinguisher. He began to smash it against the glass, unfortunately that drew a few walkers from the street in. Shane heard them and began to turn around to help me.

"Shane, focus on the glass!" I screamed slashing at a walker who was covered in congealed blood, the machete shattered his skull and he dropped, unmoving, to the ground. Finally behind me I heard the glass shatter, I slashed at another walker who had crept up on me, this one was once an elderly old man so his bones broke easily, I stabbed him in the face and had to stamp on his head to get the machete loose. After dispatching this walker I spun around to see Shane helping the last person through the smashed glass.

"Head for the car!" I yelled. The seven of us rushed to the car and piled in, we put the group in the back, the small kid and a slight African American woman sat on the floor. Shane and I dove into the front and slammed the door as a walker approached the side of the car. I was on Shane's lap and we were all completely squashed but we were alive.

"Go Glenn!" I shouted and Glenn took off down the street and back to the camp.

"Oh thank you, thank you!" the African American woman cried, tears running down her face.

"You're welcome. We couldn't just leave you there." Shane said and I almost corrected him, seeing as he was more than willing to leave them to the walkers. But I stopped myself, the last thing these people needed to hear was that one of their rescuers wanted to leave them behind.

"I'm Zara, this is Shane and Glenn," I told them, "we have a camp not far from here."

"I'm Jacqui," the African American woman said, "this is Adam, Clara, Michelle and this is Levi. We all worked for the council, well except for Levi, his school was on a field trip when, well when this craziness started." she explained.

"Well you're safe now." Glenn smiled in the rear view mirror.

"For now." I heard Shane mutter under his breath. I looked at him sharply but he just pretended like he hadn't said anything. I sat quietly on his lap, trying not to crush him, thinking about what had just happened. I felt sad, angry and to be honest a tiny bit proud of myself. I didn't know what exactly that meant but I knew one thing for sure, I would not be going back into the city any time soon.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

It was hard to believe it had been only a week since our group had set up camp in the quarry. We had developed a routine, there were the few men who knew how to aim a gun that did guard duty on a rotation. The other men helped chop wood and fish. It seemed that the domestic duties fell to us women but that was fine by me, I would much rather cook a meal or wash clothes than have to kill things. The kids were in their routine too, they got up, had breakfast and then we tried to do some reading and writing or maths for a few hours before we had them help with chores, then the older kids would learn practical skills from those who could teach them, how to tie knots, start a camp fire, cast a line, things they would need in this new world. The afternoons mostly consisted of the kids playing and the women preparing dinner. It was quiet, it was calm, we felt safe. No one who stayed in the camp had seen a Walker since they got there. The only time anyone saw a Walker was on runs to the city, but after a few days we realised that Glenn could get in and out much quicker on his own, so the rest of us gladly let him take that responsibility. Glenn was a really great guy, he always tried to make sure to bring back little extras for the kids when he did his runs, a colouring book or a small amount of candy. He even managed to find me the complete Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. I was incredibly grateful, books were a luxury I sorely missed. I tried to avoid Lori as much as possible, she had been in the car park when we got back from the city and she was not at all happy that I had made the trip back to the camp on Shane's lap. She had been finding reasons to criticise me all week. I was using too much soap on the clothes, I wasn't using enough soap on the clothes, the potatoes weren't washed properly, I was using to much water to wash the potatoes. I couldn't do anything right, even Miranda and Carol were beginning to notice her snapping at me every five minutes. I was pouring one of the collection buckets into one of the filters when Lori came over and chastised me for not helping to prepare dinner.

"We have been slaving over the fire for the last forty minutes and you are over here stuffing about with your stupid buckets!" she yelled at me.

"Lori look, we need water, clean drinking water. I'll be done in a little bit and then I will come and help with the food ok?" I retorted, tired of hearing her reprimand me for no reason. Lori sighed and threw up her hands. I finished pouring the water into the filter and turned around slowly, aware that I was incredibly angry.

"Lori I don't exactly know what your problem is with me, but I have to say I am sick of your attitude. I have busted my butt the whole time I have been here and you know it. So enough with this personal vendetta!" I seethed and pushed past her, "and for the record," I paused turning back, "I'm not interested in Shane, he's all yours." I quipped. Lori made an indignant noise but I kept walking. When I reached the camp fire I grabbed my machete and began to walk towards the forest.

"Zara!" Max called to me, "where are you going?"

"Checking the snares!" I called back, not turning around.

"I'll come with you!" he began to follow me.

"Nah, you take care of the kids!" I heard Max walk back the other way. I loved my brother but right now I needed to be alone. I pushed my way to the snare we had set up furthest from the camp, my plan was to check them from the outside in. I was untangling an opossum from the trap when I heard a twig snap somewhere nearby. I momentarily froze listening for any other sounds. Another twig snapped, closer this time, I dropped the opossum and reached for my machete, I jumped up ready to face my attacker when I heard a rough male voice with a thick southern accent laugh.

"Oh I wouldn't do that if I were you darlin'" the voice said, I whipped around to see a large hunting rifle pointed at my head.

"Fuck." I swore under my breath and the man chuckled.

"Is that anyway for a lil lady to talk?" he drawled. I took him in, he was muscular with greying hair and a smirk on his face.

"Bite me!" I snarled and he laughed again.

"Oh darlin' it has been a while since I saw a lady, so careful what you say or I might take you up on that. Now where did you come from. You look clean, well fed. You obviously have supplies, a camp. Take me there." he took a step towards me.

"I have no idea what you mean." I said flatly, no way was I leading this hill billy back to our group.

"Oh jeez girl, you must have a death wish, how bout I put it this way, you take me to your camp and we work somethin out or I put a bullet in your brain right now and find your camp myself, and I have to say I'll be mighty peeved at havin to do all that work so I will probably take that out on anyone I find when I get there." He must have seen my face drop slightly because he chuckled.

"So there are more people at this camp of yours, well come on lead the way. Oh and drop that machete and kick it over here." he smirked. As I did what he said I heard a sharp whistle pierce the air. The man whistled back and I heard a set of heavy footprints making its way towards us. Through the trees slightly to my right came another man, he was quite a few years younger than the man holding the gun but he was older than me. He was muscular and had brown shaggy hair, he was holding a crossbow.

"Ah little brother, there you are, meet, well actually she hasn't told me her name," the older man said to the newcomer, "what is your name sweetass?"

"Screw you!" I spat at him.

"Hey girl, last time I saw a mouth that big, it had a hook in it. You wanna watch what you say to the man holding your life in his hands." he growled stepping forward and putting the gun against my forehead. I didn't flinch, I wasn't going to give these men the satisfaction of seeing me scared.

"Go ahead then asshole." I growled.

"Merle, stop! This ain't getting us anywhere!" the younger on said putting his hand on the rifle.

"Ho, ho bitch has balls!" Merle sneered lowering his weapon, "Daryl we need to get her to lead us to that camp, we have barely had any food or drink in days brother."

"You know if you had asked nicely, I would have taken you back after I checked the snares." I shot at Merle and he groaned.

"Damn, my mistake darlin'," he put up his hands defensively, "but most folks nowadays are looking out for themselves and ain't willin' to share."

"Give me my machete and the gun and I will take you back, you can have some food and water and then you can leave." I crossed my arms.

"There ain't no way I am giving you my gun!" Merle yelled but Daryl nodded before taking the machete from his brother and handing it to me.

"Merle give her the gun, you said it yourself, we are gonna die if we don't get clean water soon." Daryl said and Merle groaned again.

"God damn it, alright!" he said handing the gun over, "but I want that back!"

"Right, straight ahead two hundred metres, then stop, I'll tell you the next directions when we get there and I swear to god you pull anything funny or call me sweetass one more time I will chop off your legs and leave you out here as walker chow." I told him pointing down through the trees. As he walked a few metres ahead of me I could hear him mumbling something about women not knowing their place. Daryl had slowed down to the point where he was almost walking right in front of me.

"Sorry bout my brother, he has issues with manners and women, and well people in general, he ain't a bad guy though." he said to me. I snorted with laughter.

"Look, Daryl is it? Within the first five minutes of meeting your brother, he aimed a gun at my head, threatened my people and spoke to me like we were back in the nineteen fifties. So don't get too offended when I don't take your word for it when you say he's a good guy." He laughed and slowed down again until he was walking beside me.

"So, you have an accent, where you from?" he asked looking sideways at me

"Really, you're making small talk?" I laughed and he shrugged, " Australia. We came here on holiday in perfect time to catch the end of the world." I answered.

"Wow, that's some bad luck." he replied.

"Yeah everyone says that."

"So you said we?" he asked me.

"Me, my brother, his girlfriend and my daughter."

"Oh," he said, "no husband or boyfriend?"

"Huh? What? No, why?"

"No reason, just makin small talk like you said."

We came to a stop as we reached the second last snare.

"So what now?" asked Merle, his face still sour. I pointed to a huge patch of undergrowth.

"Through there, when you get to the other side you'll see a path, wait there and I'll tell you the rest." I made a shooing motion with my hand and I could hear Merle grind his teeth. We made our way through the dense undergrowth and when we got to the path I directed them up to the camp site. I followed close behind. When they rounded the bend, Shane had his pistol pointed at them, he had heard us coming. Daryl raised his crossbow at him.

"Whoa, Shane, it's cool, I found these guys while I was checking the snares, they need food and water, I said we could help."

"How do you know we can trust them?" he growled not taking his eyes off Daryl.

"Look, Merle, the older one gave me his gun as a show of good faith, see?" I said holding up the rifle, "now both of you lower the weapons ok?"

"Yeah ok." Daryl said lowering the bow and Shane followed suit.

"Ok guys, looks like everyone has had dinner, follow me and I will see if there are any leftovers." I said heading to the fire. Camille must have heard my voice because she came bounding out of the tent and crashed into me, wrapping her arms around my leg.

"Mum, guess what, I beat Carl at Snap!" she bubbled.

"Oh wow that's great baby girl!" I bent down and kissed the top of her head, "did you brush your teeth yet?" I asked and she screwed up her nose.

"Oopsy I forgot!" she giggled.

"Ok baby girl, well can you ask Uncle Max to help you while mummy gets these boys some food?" I asked ruffling her hair, she nodded and stopped to look Daryl and Merle over. She gave them a small wave before spinning around and running off calling for Max.

"Cute kid." said Merle sarcastically, I shot his a glare and directed them to the logs around the fire, they sat down awkwardly while I handed the weapons off to T-Dog. I grabbed some bread and some of the meat and potato stew from dinner that was still sitting in the pot and two bottles of water, I handed the boys the food and water and sat down on the log next to Daryl. The women were getting the kids ready for bed and everyone else was relaxing in their tents after dinner. It was just me, Daryl, Merle and Shane sitting around the fire as the daylight faded away. Lori called for Shane and he got up to leave but not without shooting Daryl a warning glare.

"You lied for us." Daryl whispered to me, I shook my head.

"Not for him," I said looking at Merle who was currently picking his teeth, "you."

"Why?" Daryl asked taken aback. I shrugged.

"Your brother is a dickhead, but you seem like an ok guy, you diffused the situation, you got him to stop pointing the gun at me. Why wouldn't I help, you didn't deserve to be punished for what he did." I whispered back. Daryl didn't say anything for a while, he just sat staring at the fire.

"Thanks." he said eventually smiling and putting his hand on my leg. I felt a shiver run up my spine. I heard a funny growling noise so I looked up and saw Shane standing on the opposite side of the fire staring at us. Daryl must have heard him too because he looked up in surprise, when he saw the expression on Shane's face he moved his hand.

"Are you and he, like, a thing?" he asked quietly and I shook my head.

"Not even slightly." I answered and he looked confused.

"What's his deal then?"

"No idea." I answered. This was going to make things interesting, and right now interesting was something I could do without.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

From day dot Merle made it clear to Daryl, and everyone else, that he didn't like being part of the group, that he was only in it for the small amount of extra safety it provided. What was worse, in his opinion, after a few days Shane asked him to contribute by either doing some manual labour or hunting. Merle was the kind of guy who didn't give two shits about anyone but himself, the fact that he seemed to have some level of affection for Daryl amazed me, but what irritated me was the fact that Daryl had this unwavering respect and loyalty to his older brother, despite all the nasty things he said to him. Merle berated Daryl on what seemed to be an hourly basis. This got exponentially worse when Daryl offered to hunt for the group and began to spend more time away from Merle. For the first week, I barely saw either brother, they had set up their two tents as far from the camp as possible and they really kept to themselves. But I made an effort to try and include them both in camp life, Merle shrugged me off completely but Daryl slowly came around. Merle didn't like it, possibly because he disliked me so much. The thing was when Daryl wasn't out hunting, he sort of gravitated to me and the kids. He seemed to quite like Ethan, he was teaching about his crossbow and how to properly clean a caught animal before you can eat it, Ethan looked up to Daryl immensely. Daryl, despite his tough exterior was quite good with younger kids too, he was always making Camille laugh and he was quite happy to hold onto Spencer for me if I needed my hands free. Daryl and I didn't exactly have heart to heart, deep and meaningful conversations but we were comfortable around each other. The camp had a routine down pat, every person had their assigned jobs and everyone stuck to them, Glenn began making runs into town by himself, his reasoning was less people, less chance of attracting Walkers. He was speedy and knew all the ins and outs of the city, he told me had been a pizza boy before the shit hit the fan, he had worked for one of those places that did the whole, your pizza in thirty minutes or it is free thing, he told me that if the pizza was free for the customer it came out of their meagre salary. So Glenn worked out short cuts pretty fast. Occasionally he would take another person along but he much preferred to go alone, I think that was also a bit of quiet time, when you are living in a group like we were, everyone tends to be breathing down everyone else's necks. Because I had been studying education my biggest role was looking after the kids, I did school work exercises with the older kids and the older kids helped with the younger ones, I also did my fair share of cooking and cleaning. It was also my responsibility to monitor our water system, the filters and the rain tanks, that was my quiet time. About a week and a half after the brothers first showed up to the camp, Daryl asked me to show him the filters, we had ended up moving them a little further away from the camp as the water in the tanks tended to attract insects. He asked me how they worked, I tried to explain but he laughed at me and told me that I should just show him. The water was about a five minute walk away, we walked in silence, listening to the sounds around us, I had my machete which I took with me everywhere and Daryl had his bow. The silence wasn't awkward at all but it did look like Daryl had something on his mind.

"So, what's up?" I asked him, "I mean, you clearly aren't overly interested in water storage and filtration, so what did you want to say?"

Daryl looked at me in surprise and I wondered if I had misread the situation.

"You don't miss much do you?" he shook his head with a small smile. I shrugged.

"I'm pretty good at reading people I guess. So?"

"It's Shane, he warned me away from you." he told me and I rolled my eyes.

"Seriously?" I groaned, Daryl nodded, his face fairly intense.

"I know you aren't interested in him, but he certainly is in you."

"Ugh, I don't get it, I mean, clearly he is banging Lady Whingealot," I said and Daryl raised an eyebrow, "sorry Lori, I forget her real name at times, seeing as all she does is tell me what I am doing is wrong." I grumbled.

"Well he may be with Lori but even I have noticed how needy she is, you aren't needy at all Zara, you hold your own, you're a great mum and you don't whine. You get shit done. That's a pretty attractive attitude." Daryl said looking straight at my face, I blushed at the intensity in his blue eyes.

"Yeah ok but Lori looks like a model, I'm well not even remotely." I said gesturing to myself.

I had never had much self confidence, I mean I had only ever had the one boyfriend and that was a disaster. I was never thin, I mean I wasn't exactly fat either but I was on the bigger side of average, I didn't have huge boobs that made men's heads turn and I kept my hair relatively short. I was by no means a beauty queen. Daryl shook his head at me.

"Lori is ok looking but you are much prettier, even Merle thinks so."

"Yeah sure." I scoffed.

"Believe me he does, I had to listen to him rate every female over 18 in the camp, it was painful."

I pulled a face and he laughed. I bent down to check the bottom of one of the plastic storages containers, I could feel him watching me.

"Zara, his interest worries me, something about him is, I dunno, off. He always seems to be watching you."

"Don't stress, like you said I can handle my own." I winked at him.

"I know, but I don't want him to stop us from," he paused, "being friends. You really stuck your neck out for me and my brother and I care about those kids. And you." he said the last part very softly. I turned around and saw him looking at the ground. Was the rough, tough Daryl Dixon blushing? I don't know exactly what made me do what I did next. I walked up to Daryl and kissed him on the cheek, his cheek was rough and slightly spiky, covered in stubble. I had shocked myself, I was never this forward with men. I felt embarrassed, Daryl also looked stunned. I spun around ready to grab the filtered water to take back to camp and run. Before I could step away he grabbed my wrist and turned me back around. We stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Oh god, Daryl, I'm sorry, that was stupid, I shouldn't have..." I stuttered but before I could finish he cut me off by kissing me gently on the lips. His lips were much softer than I expected and he was very gentle, he pulled away fairly quickly but as he did so he was smiling. I put my hand to my lips, it almost felt like his were still against mine. I felt my whole body tingle, I felt happy, embarrassed, shocked, confused, thrilled and a bout a million other things simultaneously.

"We had better get back." I said gathering the water for the camp and walking quickly in that direction.

"Shit," I heard Daryl say before he followed me, "Zara, sorry, I thought, well, I dunno what I thought, I won't do it again."

"No, Daryl, I'm just not used to this, I've only had one boyfriend, Camilles dad and that was years ago, plus this is a bit of an unusual situation. I just need to think, you didn't do anything wrong." I explained. Daryl said nothing but took one of the containers from me.

"Well I won't say anything if you don't" he smiled and I smiled back. We walked in silence once again, albeit this time it was slightly awkward. When we got back to the camp, I could see Shane's eyes on us the minute we emerged from the trees. It was like he could sense something had happened because he stormed over straight away.

"Daryl, you were meant to go out hunting, not bother Zara!" he barked.

"Shane, he wasn't bothering me, he was helping me. Chill." I shot at him.

"Look I'm sorry, I'm going out now." he said giving me a smile and a nod before heading back into the woods.

"What was that about?" Shane demanded.

"What was what?" I asked.

"That little look he gave you?"

"Well one it was nothing, just being friendly and two even if it did mean something, it isn't your business."

"Well it is because I am the group leader." he growled.

"Group leader, right, well when something comes up pertaining to the welfare of the group, I'll consult you, but me spending time with Daryl, in whatever capacity that may be, doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the group. My ability to do my jobs isn't compromised and I am willing to bet neither is Daryl's. So take a step back."

"If you and he are sleeping together that does compromise the group."

"How the hell do you figure?"

"He's dangerous, him and that brother of his!"

"He's not Shane, more damaging is you banging Lori and letting her think she runs the show when she has no training, no survival skills and can't even keep an eye on her own child. Do you know how many times I have caught Carl sneaking off? More than I should have. I have kept my mouth shut because I didn't feel like it was my business, but you want to get in my face, expect me to get in yours." I ranted. Shane growled and muttered something under his breath before skulking off. I wasn't sure if yelling at Shane had been the right thing to do but I was sick of his holier than thou attitude. I gave the water to Carol who was in charge of cooking that night, checked on Camille, Ethan and Spencer, who were all happily hanging out with the other kids, and then went to lie down in my tent for a few moments before I was needed to help with dinner. Who would have thought that after the world ended, these issues would still be on anyone's mind?


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

In the two weeks since Daryl and I first kissed, we spent more and more time together. We were almost inseparable, when I wasn't teaching and Daryl wasn't out hunting, we would just sit together. Sometimes we would sit with the kids, talking, laughing. At times it almost felt is if we were all just on some kind of extended camping trip. Other times we just sat by ourselves for a few moments, for a while we just sat apart, not saying anything. After a little more time, about a week, we would make sure that no one could see us and we would hold hands. We were like two twelve year olds. It had been a month and four days since the airport, Ethan was opening up, he helped out around the camp and was thrilled when Max asked him to help out with the snare traps, you could still see a certain sadness when he looked at Carl interacting with Lori, but I think he had resolved to be there for Spencer instead of crumbling, he was one strong kid and I told him so. He looked slightly embarrassed but still gave me a hug. Things were pretty good considering the circumstances, we had enough food, clean water, shelter and security in this little place. For some reason the Walkers never seemed to stray this far up the mountain path. I got along with most everyone at the camp, with a few glaring exceptions, Lori and Anna to be exact. Those two were thick as thieves, they were always gossiping about everyone else at the camp. It drove me insane, I confided in Carol that I couldn't stand Anna and she agreed with me, she told me that Anna had been shirking her responsibilities, going down to the water every day and sunbathing, leaving Carol with all the clothes washing. Carol told me she hadn't said anything to anyone for fear of being asked to leave the camp because everyone knew that the king and queen were Shane and Lori. I think this is why Anna was practically living in Loris pocket, she saw that if she was able to be in their ear, she could get her way. I promised Carol I would talk to her, it was not fair that she was lumped with everything. The poor thing was always exhausted and sore due to her brute of a husband, with new bruises every few days. I hated Ed, really hated him, the only reason I held my tongue was because Carol had begged me to.

That morning I had given the kids their lessons and helped Miranda prepare lunch. It was a sunny day with a warm breeze so we were all able to sit in the sun and relax for a little while. After lunch Carol got up to go down to the water and wash clothes, I stopped her and asked if she could show Camille how to braid hair, something I was no good at, and I would take over the washing for the afternoon. Carol looked relieved and readily agreed, Anna sauntered down after me with the second basket, which she immediately dumped before pulling a towel out of it and laying it out beside the water.

"Anna!" I hissed at her and she looked over at me snidely.

"What?" she groaned and I stood over by the baskets with my hands on my hips.

"What are you doing? You need to come help with the washing!"

"Yeah, no, I don't do washing, I don't want to chip my nails at all, I mean, I only have so much nail polish left." she replied looking horrified.

'Are you kidding? Look I know you haven't been pulling your weight and you either need to start, or leave." I snapped at her. Her eyes widened.

"You wouldn't kick me out?" she squeaked.

"Anna I wouldn't hesitate if I thought you were a detriment to the group, and so far you really haven't given anyone any indication you are an asset. You treat the kids like crap and expect everyone to do everything for you. This is the end of the world girl, wake up to yourself." I said letting months of frustration out in one go. Anna made some disbelieving noises but when she saw my face, she came over and began to wash the clothes with me. When we had finished we carried the clothes back and hung them up without saying a word. I went over and watched Camille attempting to braid Sophia's hair, to Sophia credit, no matter how hard Camille pulled she sat still. I checked on Ethan and Spencer, who were in our tent, Ethan was reading my copy of the Hobbit while Spencer napped. I mouthed a thank you and Ethan smiled before going back to the book. I left quietly as to not wake the baby and went to the kitchen area, I asked the ladies preparing dinner if they needed help. There were already four of them so I wasn't needed. Daryl was out hunting, so I went to talk to Dale who was playing cards with Jim and two others. I couldn't work out what game they were playing, it looked like a mix of go fish and poker. Turns out it was called bridge, I was watching for a while before Shane came over and asked to speak to me. We walked a little away from the group before Shane explained.

"Sorry to pull you away Zara but we have a few issues with one of the filters and I can't work it out how to fix it, I've moved it a little further away just so I can remember which one it is, will you come out and help me fix it?"

"Sure, I'll just grab my machete and we will go." I answered going to head back to the card game where I had put it down.

"No it's ok, I have my knife, my pistol and we won't be out for long, I'd rather just get this over with before dinner, so let's just go." Shane said gesturing his head out to the forest, I shrugged, it was a little odd but I knew better than to argue. Besides the quicker I went and fixed the filter, the quicker I could come back. We walked for a while in silence and when we reached all the other filters we walked a little further to the filter Shane had isolated. The second I saw the filter I knew something was wrong, it looked as though someone had removed one of the parts, I turned around to Shane to say so when he pushed me up against a tree. I went to scream out but he placed a hand over my mouth, I struggled against him.

"Shhhhh," he told me, "I had to get you out here, had to get you away, I know you want this." he said moving his hand, I let out a piercing scream that was cut short by Shane pushing his lips against mine and ramming his tongue down my throat. I gagged and he pulled back, putting his hand over my mouth again. I tried to bite his hand but he just laughed.

"This is what you want right? A bad boy? That's why you've been spending time with that dirty, scruffy redneck? Or were you doing it to make me jealous?" he rambled before trying to kiss me again, this time I was ready for him, when he put his tongue in my mouth I bit down as hard as I could. I could taste blood in my mouth as he pulled away, swearing. I screamed again and he slapped me across the face and pushed me back forcefully into the tree, completely knocking the wind out of me. I crumpled to the ground holding my chest, gasping for air when I heard a shout.

"Don't you fucking touch her!" the voice shouted. I looked up to see Daryl a few metres away from Shane with his crossbow aimed at his head.

"Daryl!" I gasped trying to stand.

"What the hell are you doing Shane, she told you weeks ago she wasn't interested, She made it clear! You are no better than a damn Walker, forcing yourself on her, you were a cop man!" Daryl yelled. Shane raised his hands in defeat but said nothing.

"Daryl!" I wheezed, I could see the rage on his face.

"I'm sorry but I can't stand men like you, better to put a bolt through your head before you hurt someone else!" he spat.

"No!" I yelled, "Daryl stop! If you kill him the group might not understand, he may be an asshole but we need him, think about Carl, he's already lost his dad, please don't make yourself a killer!" I puffed, still struggling to draw in air. Daryl growled loudly.

"Zara he could have really hurt you!" he yelled not lowering his bow.

"But he didn't, I'm fine, he won't do it again. Will you Shane?" I looked at Shane who hadn't moved. Shane nodded, I could see his hands shaking.

"Go then," Daryl snarled, "but you lay one finger on Zara or anyone else without their say so and I will take your ass down quicker than you can say knife. Got it?"

Shane nodded and took off towards the camp. Daryl kept his crossbow aimed at him until he was out of sight, he then rushed over to me as I slumped against the tree. He grabbed me and pulled me to him, I was quite a bit shorter than him, my head was up against his chest, he didn't speak for a few minutes. I could feel him trembling slightly with barely suppressed rage. I knew it had taken everything in him not to take Shane out.

"I'm sorry Daryl." I breathed, not wanting to end the moment. He kissed me lightly on the top of the head.

"Don't be sorry Zara, you're right, but that doesn't mean I don't want to beat his ass any less." he said through gritted teeth, I nodded and snuggled into him again. He lifted my chin and looked me in the eye.

"You gonna tell the others?" he asked and I shook my head.

"The group doesn't need it, he knows he went too far, it won't happen again."

"Ok well, just don't go anywhere by yourself or with him." Daryl's blue eyes scanned my face and I laughed.

"Don't let the accent fool you, I'm not actually stupid." I retorted, Daryl grinned at me before kissing me softly on the lips.

"we should get back." he murmured and I nodded, Daryl let me go but we walked back to the camp hand in hand. This time neither of us cared who saw.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

For the next ten days everything at the camp was quiet, we had enough supplies that we didn't need anyone to go into the city. Shane had not said anything to anyone about our little altercation in the woods as far as I could tell, so both Daryl and I kept our mouths shut. Us coming back holding hands had caused a bit of a stir, Merle apparently told Daryl off for "catching feelings for the first bit of ass that showed an interest" but Daryl didn't care, he loved his brother but I knew he was sick of always being under his thumb. Seeing as he and Merle had separate tents, Daryl decided to move his tent closer to mine and the kids. The kids were happy about that, Ethan and Camille loved Daryl and Daryl really enjoyed spending time with them too. Daryl even took Ethan hunting with him a few times and they managed to bag a deer, which took forever to skin and cook, but it was delicious and the best this we had eaten in weeks. Surprisingly my talk with Anna had yielded results, she still whined about everything and was always attached to Lori but she helped Carol with the washing. Max was happy that Anna seemed to be fitting in more and he never said anything to me about my threatening to make her leave, so either she didn't tell him, or he agreed with me. Camille had been coming along will with her reading, Sophia and Carl took personal interest in helping her learn, she was loving the attention. Spencer had begun to crawl, which made life interesting to say the least, you couldn't take your eyes off him for a second. It was incredibly adorable watching the kids call him and seeing him scoot over, seeing the look of delight on their face when he came to them, and seeing the delight on his face when they praised him for it. Even Lori and I were getting along better now that Shane was no longer constantly hitting on me. We discussed putting up signs on the road to warn people who might be approaching the city about the fact it was overrun. We were in the process of finding something large enough to write the message on when a group meeting was called. A month and a half had passed since we first set up the camp and this was only the second group meeting that we had needed.

"We are incredibly low on supplies." Dale started after we had all gathered around.

"We are low on everything, baby formula, diapers, medicines, toilet paper, the list goes on." Morales nodded.

"And we definitely need more coffee filters, for the water system." I piped up.

"We are going to need to do a run into town and because there is so much we need, I think we are going to have to take a group in." Shane answered.

"I'm not sure I'm completely comfortable with that," said Glenn, "last time I went in alone, the city was so crowded I only just made it out, the only reason I did was some hooded figure took down the Walkers that attacked me with a bow and arrows. I don't know who they are either, I mean they could be just as big a threat as the Walkers for all we know."

"You can't carry the stuff back alone, we need some of our group to go with you." Shane was resolute. Glenn sighed and nodded, I could see he knew that what Shane said was true but he wasn't happy about it.

"Ok so who is going?" Dale asked the group. We stood in silence for a moment before T-Dog stepped forward.

"I'll go, I haven't been yet and I think I need to." he said his voice slightly shaky.

"I'll go too, I need to help out more and I know plenty of escape routes, I did work for city planning in the zoning department, it was my job to know the cites ins and outs." Jacqui said, then Andrea took a step forward, she didn't say anything but put her hand on Jacquis shoulder in a protective manner. Morales then stepped forward.

"Eliza needs asthma medication, I will need to go to get it for her." he said.

"Well that's a good team." said Dale, looking at Glenn, :good enough?" he asked and Glenn nodded, looking relieved.

"I think you might need one more," said a gruff voice with a distinctive southern twang, "I feel like I should go, help the group that my brother seems to be insistent that we be a part of thanks to his piece of ass." Merle grumbled stepping up to the group. Daryl looked angry at his choice of words but I looked at him and shook my head, he knew I didn't want to start anything over Merle being a jerk. No one else was game enough to argue because Merle happy was gruff, grumpy and slightly violent, no one wanted to see him angry.

"Ok so we have our team, you guys go get ready. Oh and Daryl and Max, if you guys could go out and hunt something for dinner that would be great."Dale said smiling.

"No problems." Daryl said and Max nodded. We all broke off to prepare for our separate tasks, the city group left almost immediately, I think they wanted it to get over and done with. Daryl and Max geared up ready for hunting and I went to prepare for the lesson of the morning. Shane disappeared into the forest and Amy decided to head out and look fro mushrooms to keep herself busy while Andrea was in the city. I knew it was Amy's birthday in two days and Andrea had wanted to go to the city to get her a present. As Daryl and Max headed out, Ethan and Camille came with Spencer and I to see them off. Ethan shook both mens hands and Camille hugged them both, they both gave Spencer a quick hug and then Ethan took him from me back over to the other kids, holding Camilles hand. I hugged Max.

"Where's Anna?" he asked me and I shrugged and gave a small smile, Anna had been spending less and less time with us and more and more with Lori and Shane. I was sure she was going behind Max and Loris backs with Shane but I couldn't prove anything so I didn't want to upset anyone without good reason. Max made a grunting noise and I hugged him tightly again.

"Remember bro, your twinny loves you, be safe ok?" I said kissing his cheek. Max smiled back. I let him go and he busied himself checking his gun. I moved over to Daryl, he pulled me in for hug, I nuzzled myself into him, taking in his slightly musky smell.

"You know that goes for you too, the staying safe?" I whispered to him, I felt him nod and squeezed him.

"You too Zara." he said softly and I laughed.

"I'll be here teaching kids how to do long division, I think I'll be fine!" I giggled and Daryl chuckled with me. I pulled back slightly and lifted my head to kiss him. This kiss was a little harder, a little more intense than any kiss before. I pulled back and saw Max glaring at Daryl with a disapproving look and I laughed in my head, at least Max could be counted on to maintain the protective brother role when it came to my love life. I wondered if the intensity of the kiss had anything to do with the fact his brother had gone into the city.

"He'll be fine, he's a tough bastard." I said carefully and Daryl scoffed.

"You really don't miss a single thing." he said stroking my face and giving me another gentle kiss before we broke apart and he and Max headed into the forest. I had a huge grin on my face and slight skip in my step as I went back to start Maths with the kids.

It was mid afternoon when we all heard a car alarm going off, it was getting closer and closer. Everyone was slightly panicked until we saw Glenn driving up to the spot we had designated for cars, a small clearing a bit closer than the original spot at the car park. He drove up and everyone yelled at him for possibly attracting Walkers. But Amy, Shane and I were relieved, Amy had heard a transmission on our walkie talkies that the group was in trouble. Glenn explained that they had met two other survivors and been cornered in a department store. That it had been the new survivors idea for Glenn to draw some walkers away while the rest of them accessed a van. A few minutes later the van pulled up and the team poured out of the back, with them was a tall pale man with startling blue eyes and sandy brown hair, he was wearing a police uniform, also there was a tiny blonde woman in an army uniform, her green eyes scanned the group. I couldn't help feeling that she looked oddly familiar. I noticed Merle wasn't with them.

"Andrea? Where's Merle?" I asked and she hung her head.

"He almost got us killed, he is handcuffed to a roof back at the store." she said quietly. My stomach dropped, Daryl was going to be devastated. When Lori saw the man in the police uniform her eyes widened, Carl looked over and saw what his mother was looking at, he started running towards the man yelling.

"DAD!" he screamed, running into his arms with his mother. I was shocked, this was Rick, Carl's father and Lori's husband. They had told us he was dead, but I was immensely happy for Carl, he had his father back. The blonde woman was still looking over the group when her eyes settled on where I was standing with Ethan, Spencer and Camille. Her mouth dropped open and she stormed over to us. I looked at Ethan and his eyes were wide, he rubbed them a few times, I tried to get a response from him but nothing. The woman came right up and got into my face. I could see a British flag on the front of her uniform. Her green eyes bored into my face.

"What the hell are you doing with my nephews?" she yelled.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

I stood in complete shock as the small blonde woman yelled in my face and Ethan flung himself into her arms. I thought she had looked familiar, this was Lydias sister. I was unable to speak and kept a tight grip on Spencer. This woman was filthy, she smelled like someone had rolled her in garbage. Ethan didn't seem to mind as he burrowed into her, which was not an easy feat considering he was almost a head taller than her. The woman stopped yelling at me to hug Ethan and ask him where Lydia, Sienna and Grant were. Ethan began to tell the story but dissolved into tears. The woman glared at me, obviously expecting me to fill her in.

"We were sitting next to each other on the plane, your sister and I, we were together when we were attacked by a herd of Walkers, Sienna ran away and Lydia passed me Spencer before she went after her. They didn't make it, Grant ran too but I didn't see where he went. Ethan and Spencer have been with us since then." I explained as calmly as I could.

"And how long is that?" she snapped in the same accent that her sister had.

" A month and a half, give or take a few days." Max answered, he had come back not long after the city group had, apparently Daryl felt he could hunt better on his own and sent Max packing, Max assured me that Daryl would be back by tomorrow.

"Who are you?" the woman gave him an icy stare.

"I'm Max, this is Zara my twin sister and my niece Camille." he said pointing to us in turn. The woman made a hmm noise and looked around the group again. She was reacting rather calmly to the news her sister and niece were dead and that her brother in law probably was too. Ethan was still sobbing on his aunts shoulder and I held out Spencer towards her.

"Here." I said and Spencer began to cry.

"No, no I don't do babies." she said shaking her head and shrinking back slightly, I swear my mouth must have dropped open because I could have sworn she looked embarrassed.

"It's Melinda right?" I asked cuddling Spencer to me and soothing him. She nodded looking slightly confused, "Your sister showed me a picture of you on the plane, she said she was very proud of you." I explained and I saw a tear roll down her face. She viciously wiped it away but remained stony faced.

"How have you lot survived up here so long?" she asked.

"Well we pulled together, each person has their own skills, we all pitch in." I shrugged unsure exactly what she meant. She raised an eyebrow at me.

"What do you do for food? Water?" she questioned, clearly not satisfied with my non committal answer.

"We have some members who hunt, others fish, forage, some go on runs to the city and we have a water catchment and filtration system in place. We also have several snares around the perimeter." I said proudly, I could tell she was impressed.

"Not bad." she said looking around at our set up. Ethans tears had began to subside and he let go of his aunt.

"Zara has been taking real good care of us Aunty Mel, she's a teacher and her boyfriend has taught me to load a crossbow." he told her wiping his face. I was stopped in my tracks for a moment at Ethans casual use of the word boyfriend, I mean I knew there were bigger things to worry about at the time but I wondered if everyone else felt that was what we were, I wondered if Daryl thought that.

"A crossbow huh?" Melinda said to Ethan, "well we can't have that! You are going to have to learn to use a compound bow like your aunty, none of this crossbow crap." she laughed and Ethan grinned.

"So do you have a tent?" Max asked her and she nodded.

"Oh Aunty Mel, can I sleep there with you?" Ethan asked.

"Sure Eth," she smiled at him before looking at me, "oh, I mean as long as,Zara was it?" she asked and I nodded, "as long as Zara doesn't mind."

"Of course not, go ahead Ethan, did you want to take Spencer?" I asked him and Ethan shook his head.

"Aunty Mel doesn't like when babies cry." he said matter of factly. I raised an eyebrow and she shrugged back.

"Kid knows what he's saying, you can keep him." she said.

Around me I could hear everyone talking about what had happened in the city, how the new guy rode into town on a horse and then was cornered in a tank, then chained Merle to the roof and got them all out. I was dreading Daryl coming back, he would lose it when he found out that this guy had basically signed his brothers death warrant.

"So? Want to help me set up tent Ethan?" Melinda asked, snapping me out of my own thoughts. Ethan nodded and bounded over to a spot next to our tent.

"Come on Aunty Mel, right here!" he called to her. She looked at him and grinned then turned back to me, extending her hand.

"I'm Melinda, Melinda Hale, but call me Mel, I feel like too much of a girl when people use my full name." she groaned before walking over and beginning the set up with Ethan. I looked at Max and by the expression on his face I could tell we were thinking the same thing. This whole situation was weird. I really didn't know how to feel, I was happy for Ethan that he had his aunt but her reaction to Spencer had floored me, I remembered Lydia saying that Melinda had been doing some sort of training or something for the last however long and hadn't actually met Spencer, but to me family was family. I looked at the blonde, green eyed baby in my arms and had a sudden realisation. Whereas Ethan looked more like their father, Spencer was the spitting image of Sienna and Lydia. I cursed myself in my head for acting harshly, of course she had been stand offish, you get told your sister and niece are dead and then someone shoves a living breathing reminder of them into your face. Anyone would react the way she had. I knew it would take time but I was sure once it had sunk in Melinda would come around. I looked around the camp to see the new guy settling in with Carl and Lori and everyone else getting things ready for dinner. Spencer began to grizzle, he was hungry and in need of a nap. I walked to the kitchen area and began making up a bottle of formula with Spencer still on my hip. I felt eyes on me so I turned around. Melinda was staring at me from across the fire, her brow furrowed slightly. I wasn't sure how to react so I just gave a small smile and went back to the job at hand. I sat down with Spencer beside the fire and fed him, I made myself not look up to where Mel had almost finished setting up. When Spencer was full, I took him over to our tent, changed him and rocked him for a while. His eyes started to droop and I laid him down on my sleeping bag in the little pillowed area I had created as his cot.

"Ethan?" I said as I climbed out of the tent, "did you want to go read in there while your brother has his nap so I can help with dinner?" I asked him and Ethan popped out of the newly erected tent beside ours.

"Sure Zara, I'm nearly finished the Hobbit, so can I read Fellowship of the Ring next?" he asked and I nodded, he grinned happily and quietly entered the tent with his sleeping brother.

"You got that kid reading the Hobbit?" Melinda asked incredulously.

"Yeah I told him it was my favourite at his age, he wanted to help me with something so I told him he could watch his brother while he napped when I was busy, and the reading was something to do."

" I just can't believe it, I mean Lydia was telling me over the phone for months how he was having trouble at school and wouldn't do the assigned reading." she shook her head.

"Well I was doing a bachelors degree in education before this all happened, so I show him things and he helps me teach the younger ones, he is incredibly bright." I said smiling at her facial expression.

"So you aren't from here either," she said walking with me past the fire, "Australian?" she asked.

"Wow good pick!" I nodded and she looked rather pleased with herself.

"I have a great ear for accents." she almost boasted.

"I suppose you would travel a lot with your job."

"Yeah, tons," she answered. Then she stopped suddenly, grabbed my arm and looked me dead in the eyes intensely.

"Thank you," she said quietly and she laughed slightly seeing the shock on my face, "I mean it, thank you for looking after them, not many people out there would have, especially when they have their own child to take care of," she looked over at Camille who was playing with Barbie dolls with Sophia, " I don't know what I can do to fully express how much it means to me to see the boys safe." she said her eyes welling up. On impulse I leaned forward and hugged her, she stiffened up at first but relaxed slightly after a second or two.

"Those boys mean so much to me Melinda, in circumstances like these you form bonds quickly and I have to say I love them, my brother loves them and my daughter loves them. You don't need to thank me for taking care of them, they are family now." I said as I pulled away. Melinda looked surprised at my words and she wiped her eyes hurriedly.

"Call me Mel." she said with a shaky smile. I laughed.

"You know what Mel, I think I am going to like you." I said.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

After dinner and the kids were in bed, we sat around the fire as a group talking. Everyone was fascinated to hear about Mel and Ricks experiences. Rick told us how he had woken up in the hospital not knowing the apocalypse had started, he had wandered around aimlessly for a while before a man named Morgan and his son Duane had rescued him, told him about the Walkers and helped him get organised to travel to Atlanta. From there Glenn told us what happened in the city. I cringed hearing about the poor horse again, no living thing deserved to be torn apart by those monsters. Mel stayed quiet all through Ricks story, she looked conflicted about sharing with the whole group. When it was her turn she sighed heavily. She told us how in Britain things weren't half as bad as they were here when she left, her company had been in charge of people coming in from the border, from Ireland and the rest of Europe. Paris had been one of the first to get overrun but with the elite soldiers on the border, not many infected individuals made it through. She said her unit had been chosen for this job because they were known for being efficient, highly skilled and at times ruthless. Melinda told us that she had been having a conversation with one of her superiors when he received a message from a division of their army that had been sent to the USA to help with the impending influx of infected. The message said things were now out of control, they had used the term Wildfire, this had panicked her superior. When she had asked him about the exact implications of the message, he looked at her sadly because he knew she had family in the USA, he told her that the whole of the states was now a completely lost cause. Human casualties were astronomical and the infected population was looking as though it would completely wipe out the living in a matter of months. That night Mel had decided to desert her unit to go find her sister and the kids. I could see that the decision she made still pained her. Lydia had told me exactly how much Mels unit meant to her, they were a close knit group and leaving them must have been heartbreaking for her. She told us that she had pulled in a favour from a pilot friend and parachuted into Walker infested New York. She didn't find them so she decided she would head south towards Grants family, in case they had stayed in Florida. She had reached Georgia and heard reports about a refugee centre in Atlanta, so that was where she went. When she saw how the city had been decimated she had been shocked because the radio broadcasts still told people to head for Atlanta. She decided to stay in Atlanta because she was sure her sister would heed the broadcasts and she would find her eventually. She had been in Atlanta for almost a week when she spotted Glenn. He was cornered by Walkers and she took them down, allowing him to escape. She said she had thought about following him but she didn't want to risk missing her sister. It wasn't until she saw Rick ride into Atlanta and Glenn rescue him that she decided to follow. It was obvious that he was from a larger group and it had been quite a while since anyone had passed through Atlanta looking for refuge. She thought maybe her sister and the kids would be in this bigger group, or at the very least someone might be able to give her some new information. She silently followed Rick and Glenn and saw the others in the store. They looked harmless and she knew if need be she had enough ammunition and arrows to take them all out if they weren't so friendly. She had popped in and scared the beejezus out of them all according to Glenn, but she had been instrumental in helping them escape, she had been in the city for quite a while so she was the one who knew the location of the red car Glenn had driven back and she had been able to take out a large chunk of Walkers in their way. Mel said she was thrilled that her nephews had been so well looked after and thanked everyone. She then asked a few others about their journey to the camp and politely answered question after question about herself, her unit and even about the Walkers in New York. After a while she excused herself and said she was going to take a quick look around at the perimeter we had set up. Everyone else began to tidy up and get ready to turn in for the night. While talking to Carol about the planned lessons for tomorrow I saw Shane slip off after Mel. Knowing what he was like I decided to follow, I said goodnight to Carol and grabbed my machete. I tried to be as quiet as I possibly could. I hid behind a tree when I saw Shane approach Mel, I strained my ears to hear their conversation but they were whispering, making it impossible. When the conversation ended I remained hidden until I was sure Shane was out of sight, I then announced my presence to Mel.

"Zara? What are you doing out here?" she asked.

"I saw Shane come this way, I was worried for you." I answered. She snorted.

"Worried? Why?"

"Because Shane is a chauvinistic asshole," I sighed, "he was interested in me, even though he was sleeping with Lori, that's Ricks wife, well I don't know for sure but it was pretty obvious. Anyway, I told him I wasn't interested, then I met Daryl, he is out hunting, and Shane got jealous. He lured me away from the camp and shoved his tongue down my throat, if Daryl hadn't shown up I don't know what would have happened. In any case, I am sure you can handle yourself but I don't trust him." I finished and I could see that Mel was furious.

"He did that?" she fumed and I nodded.

"Daryl threatened him with a bolt to the brain if he touched me again so he isn't a threat to me but well with men like that, you never know."

"You let me know if he so much as looks at you sideways, I can't stand men who do shit like that, especially to someone who looked after my family. I will cut his fucking balls off if he tries that shit again." she spat and I hugged her, she may have been small but she was well and truly a firecracker.

"So tell me about this Daryl." she said.

"There's not a lot to tell actually, we are fairly close, the kids adore him but at the moment, things are a bit to crazy to be thinking about all that, at least seriously, I really like him, like a whole lot, but I don't really know exactly how he feels. You know the usual boy girl drama." I laughed and Mel joined me.

"Ah end of the world and still dating is uber complicated, who would have thought?" she chuckled. I rolled my eyes in agreement.

"The world goes to shit and when it comes to men I still feel like an awkward teenager." I groaned. We began to make our way back to the camp, it was slow going as the darkness had crept up on us rather suddenly.

"So what happened to Camilles father?" Mel asked pushing a tree branch aside for me.

"No clue, when he found out I was pregnant he skipped out faster than you can say knocked up. But honestly I think I am better off for it, he was my first boyfriend and he was a complete dick to be honest. There was no way he would have been a good dad. I was really lucky to have Max, my twin who you met earlier, he carried us both for ages while I sorted myself out." I explained.

"What about the other Aussie chick?"

"That's Anna, Max's girlfriend. I don't like her, she doesn't like me. We have a mutual agreement not to bother each other."

"Ah, fair enough, you know I never liked Grant either, I was livid when he got Lydia pregnant. But at least he did the right thing by her, I mean their life together wasn't perfect but they were fairly happy and Lydia loved her kids, they were her life," she stopped dead on the outskirts of the camp, "and now she's gone." she said in a sort of strangled sob. I stepped forward and hugged her again, I hoped she didn't mind but she looked so helpless, not at all like a woman who had jumped out of a plane into a walker feeding frenzy. She just looked sad. She put her head on my shoulder and sobbed for a few moments and I stood there hugging and rubbing her back. When she had finished she pushed me away and looked mortified.

"Oh god, I am sorry, I don't normally cry. Especially not with strangers." she said.

"Don't worry, better out than bottled up." I said.

"True," she said wiping her eyes, "well I don't know about you but I am exhausted, I am going to hit the hay, see you in the morning." she said giving me a nod.

"Night." I said turning towards my tent. I quietly got in it to see Camille and Spencer fast asleep and to my surprise Ethan was also in the tent. I guess he had not wanted to be in the other tent by himself, I nudged him gently and he opened his eyes sleepily.

"Your aunt is in the other tent if you want to join her." I told him but he shook his head.

"Too tired." he mumbled closing his eyes and settling back down. I checked on the two younger kids and gave them both a kiss before getting into my sleeping bag. I lay away for a few hours thinking about the events of the day. Mel seemed like a genuinely nice person, I was really glad that the boys had their aunt. Then my thoughts drifted to Daryl, I hoped that he was ok, that he had found a safe spot to hunker down for the night, knowing him he would most likely be halfway up a tree. I thought about Merle and how I was going to tell Daryl what had happened. I was definitely not looking forward to it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

The next morning I was woken by Spencer grizzling for his breakfast. I stretched my sore muscles and yawned. I could already feel the sun warming up the tent, today was going to be a scorcher. Suddenly a piercing scream cut through the silence, waking both Camille and Ethan, who sat bolt upright in his sleeping bag. I shoved Spencer into his arms.

"Stay in the tent with the kids until I come and get you!" I said to him and he nodded, with that I pushed my way out to see Lori standing under on of the trees on the camp edge screaming bloody murder. I grabbed my machete and raced over to her, looking around I couldn't see any Walkers, when I got to her I grabbed her shoulder and she pointed up into the tree. I looked up to see a hooded figure sitting perfectly still on a branch, sitting on the figures lap was a bow. The figure pushed it's hood back and laughed. By this time practically the whole camp had gathered around to see what caused the commotion.

"Never took you for a screamer Lori, how ever does Rick manage?" Mel said sarcastically. I began to giggle but stopped when I saw the faces of Shane and Lori.

"So that's why they call you Hood." said Glenn in awe.

"That was a dumb fool move! What if one of us had of thought you were a Walker and shot you dead?" Shane yelled as Mel flipped out of the tree. I stifled another giggle at her showing off and put my hands on my hips as I faced Shane.

"Come on, since when do Walkers climb trees?" I asked him, he glared at me momentarily before focusing on Mel again.

"See, this is what I was saying Rick, she needs to surrender her weapons until we get to know her!" he looked at Rick who was busy looking Mel up and down

"And as I told you yesterday Shane, there is no way I will be giving my weapons up." Mel said calmly while she put the bow on her back and tightened the strap slightly.

"You aren't the leader of this group!" Shane spat.

"Are you?" Mel asked condescendingly.

"You need to hand them over!" Shane yelled going red in the face. Mel looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"You want my weapons? Come get them Kojak." she threw back, bending her knees slightly into a defensive position. Shane snarled deep in his throat and lunged for her. In one swift move Mel swept her leg and took Shane's legs out from under him. He landed flat on his back breathless. Lori rushed over to help him up and Mel walked calmly back to her tent, I scurried after her.

"Mel that was amazing!" I said in admiration, "he needed someone to knock him on his ass!" I laughed. Mel grinned at me and winked.

"You are more than welcome, asking me to give him my weapons, fat chance." she snorted. I hugged her but recoiled quickly, curling my lip, she stunk even worse than she had the day before.

"Oh man, no offence but you reek!" I said holding my nose, "can't you smell yourself?"

Mel lifted her shirt to her nose and inhaled before shaking her head.

"Nope." she said shrugging. I sighed.

"Well I can, after breakfast you and I will take the girls down to the quarry and we can all have a wash!" I said patting her on the shoulder. She shrugged again.

"If you insist." she said smiling at me.

"I do!" I yelled jokingly and we both laughed. I went to the tent and told Ethan what had happened, he cracked up, telling me that it was just like Aunty Mel to do something like that. We all left the tent and went for breakfast. Carol had gotten up early and made porridge, which was absolutely delicious, even Camille who had never liked porridge before ate her whole bowl. I asked Carol if she wanted me to take Sophia for a wash with us and she happily agreed. I was just organising the girls when I heard a groaning near one of the bushes. I called T-Dog who was standing nearby to see if he could hear it, he agreed it was odd and pulled out his knife before pushing through the bush. On the other side was a deer on it's side, having it's guts pulled out by a Walker.

"Shit!" yelled T-Dog stepping back and stumbling over a rock. He fell backwards as the Walker stood up and started to make it's way towards us. Then an arrow came out of nowhere, embedding itself into the Walkers skull, the Walker fell to the ground like a bag full of rocks.

"Damn it, that was my deer!" I heard Daryl shout from the forest, "you ok Zara?" he asked.

"Yeah, fine!" I called back as I saw him push through a group of bushes. He looked down at the deer and then over at the Walker in disgust.

"I was tracking that all night!" he growled, "you think if we cut around the bitten part, it would be ok?" he asked me. I shook my head.

"I wouldn't risk it, you never know how this sickness spreads, it isn't worth it, sorry Daryl." I answered.

"Damn it!" he yelled, giving the Walker a kick as he walked past towards me, "how's things here, sorry I sent Max back but he kept scaring all animals off, honestly he was hopeless!" he chuckled kissing me on the cheek.

"Who is this?" I heard Mel ask. Daryl turned to look at her and I felt a small pang of jealousy as he looked her up and down.

"Mel, this is Daryl, Daryl, meet Mel, she's a soldier from Britain and she also happens to be Ethan and Spencer's aunt, she came looking for them." I said introducing them and they shook hands.

"So you are Zara's boyfriend?" Mel said with a wink, Daryl looked at me and I cringed, "Ethan told me." Mel clarified. Daryl smiled and nodded.

"Indeed I am, pleased to meet you. Have you met my brother yet?" he said.

"What brother?" Mel asked confused. Daryl looked at her just as confused.

"Merle?" he questioned and Mel shook her head. I cringed again.

"Um Daryl, Merle didn't come back from the city run." I said quietly.

"What!" he yelled, "what happened?"

"I had better explain." said Rick coming over.

"Who is this?" Daryl said pointing at Rick.

"My name is Rick Grimes, your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there." Rick explained.

"Hold on. Let me process this. You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!" Daryl shouted and Rick nodded. Daryl dropped his crossbow and lurched towards Rick, his fists balled, swinging out.

"Daryl! Stop!" I yelled, moving forward but he pushed me backwards. A split second after I reeled backwards Mel leapt forward and grabbed Daryl around the throat, she had him in a choke hold and he gasped, sinking to the ground.

"Calm the fuck down!" she growled as he struggled.

"Who uses a choke hold?" Daryl coughed.

"I would like us all to have a pleasant calm discussion, I'm sure these nice chaps had a reason for doing it, but you won't find anything out attacking people and shoving Zara. So if I let you go will you pipe down?" Mel asked Daryl.

"Mm ok." Daryl muttered and Mel let him go.

"I didn't do it on a whim, your brother doesn't play well with others." Rick said flatly.

"It wasn't Rick's fault, I had the key but I dropped it." T-Dog cut in.

"You couldn't pick it up?" Daryl hissed still rubbing his throat.

"I dropped it down a drain." T-Dog said with a pained expression.

"If that's supposed to make me feel better, it don't!" Daryl growled.

"Well, maybe this will. Look, I chained the door to the roof… So the geeks couldn't get at him… With a padlock. It's gotta count for something." T-Dog said, trying to appease him.

**"**Hell with all y'all! Just tell me where he is so that I can go get him!" Daryl yelled.

"He'll show you. Isn't that right?" said Lori who had just joined the group, she was staring at Rick.

"I'm going back," Rick said sternly and Lori stormed back off, "we will leave in twenty." he said turning to follow her.

"I'll come too!" said T-Dog hurriedly before going to his tent. Then it was just Mel, Daryl and I. I could see Daryl was still fuming, his face was completely clouded in anger. I turned on my heel and walked away. I hadn't gone far when I heard a loud slap. I spun around to see Mel with her arms crossed and Daryl holding his face. He looked at me, his face back to normal, he raced over to me, I turned back around and kept walking.

"Zara!" he called out but I didn't answer. He caught up easily and gently grabbed my shoulder. I stopped and turned around.

"What!?" I yelled in his face. He looked ashamed of himself.

"Zara I am so sorry, I didn't mean to shove you, I wasn't thinking, I..." he said.

"Ok, I know you were upset," I cut him off, "but you could have hurt me, I just need some time." I said shakily.

"I know," he said softly, "I'm goin' out to find Merle, we can talk when I come back." he went to walk away.

"Daryl wait!" I said and he turned to face me, I kissed him hard and he wrapped his arms around me, we kissed passionately for a few moments before I pushed him away.

"I am still angry but I couldn't let you go into that city without that." I said before leaving him to go organise the girls.

"Just bring the bastard back safe!" I called out over my shoulder to him.


	14. Chapter 14

**Fourteen**

A little after Rick, T-Dog, Merle and Glenn left for the city, I took Camille, Spencer and Sophia down to the quarry along with soap, towels and a change of clothes for each kid, Mel followed along behind us. When we got there we stripped down to our underwear and began to wash. Mel sat on the bank fully clothed with her arms wrapped around her knees.

"What's wrong?" I asked her while I was washing Camilles hair, Mel shrugged but still looked troubled, "you know you need to actually use soap and water to get clean right?" I asked jokingly. Mel rolled her eyes and sighed. She stood up and began to undress, she shrugged off her jacket and on her left wrist I could see a tattoo it looked like an arrow wrapped around her wrist.

"Nice tatt," I said and Mel smiled, "do you have any others?" I asked.

"Yeah I have quite a few, you?" she asked me.

"Yeah I have two, I have Camille's name and birth date on my wrist," I showed her the calligraphy, "and a small peacock feather on my hip." I showed her that too. She admired my tattoo for a moment and then took off her shirt and turning her back to me.

"This is my biggest tattoo," she said pointing to her back, covering most of her back was a huge black and grey tattoo with splashes of red. It was a winged man with a set of killer abs and his arms outstretched, in one hand he held an arrow, in the other was a shield with some lettering that looked Greek, on the mans head was a battered old Greek soldiers helmet with a big Mohawk type feather, on both the helmet and the shield there were splashes of what looked like blood. Across the crotch of the man was a ribbon that had the words: praecipites mundi VI IV MMV atrox cruentum. I also noticed on her right shoulder she had deep scarring, it looked as though she had been mauled.

"What does it say?" I asked.

"The sheild says BSRR, it stands for British Special Reconnisance Regiment, the other writing is latin, it means swift, clean, fierce, bloody, it was our unit motto and the roman numerals are the date we formed six four two thousand and five, for the sixth of april two thousand and five. Every member has this tattoo, our sigil was the spartan, hence the spartan helmet and sheild. But each person had their own touch, mine was the arrow, my friend Alex had a sniper rifle." Mel explained beginning to wash herself.

"What happened to your shoulder?" I asked while I washed Spencer, despite his squirming. Mel looked over at the girls who were splashing in the water a few feet away.

"I was captured," she said in a hushed tone, "when I was over in Iraq, we were trying to find this warlord who had gone through a local village and killed tons of innocents. His forces got the jump on us and I was nabbed. They tortured me for days but I didn't break, so they decided to use me for their entertainment, they threw me into a pit with a stick and set a pack of wild dogs on me. I was very lucky that my team found me right after they chucked me in, or I would have been mincemeat."

"Oh god Mel, I'm sorry!" I said touching her arm. I heard Camille whine and I turned around to see her covered head to toe in mud.

"Mummy! I'm all yucky again!" she sniffled.

"Oh lord!" I sighed, "could you please hold Spencer for a moment while I sort this out?" I asked handing him over to Mel. I rushed over to Camille and helped her get the mud off, while Sophia giggled.

"Ok what happened?" I asked the girls.

"Camille saw a frog, so she tried to grab it but fell in the mud!" Sophia giggled away.

"Well no more frog hunting ok girls?" I grinned as both girls nodded in agreement. I turned back around to see Mel holding Spencer outstretched at arms length from her. Spencer was making some gurgling noises and Mel looked positively panicked. I cracked up and she looked over and glared at me.

"Will you come take him?" she said and I shook my head.

"He's your nephew, you need to get used to it!" I grinned and Mel groaned. I set about dressing the girls and myself. I have to admit I took my time. When we were done I grabbed Spencer and dressed him while Mel dressed herself. I could hear Carol and a few others bringing down the washing for the day. Mel got up to leave but I grabbed her arm.

"Please stay, you can help Ethan watch Spencer and the other kids while I help with washing the clothes." I said to her, she stopped and held out her arms for Spencer, I handed him over and she held him a little closer, I laughed the last dry towel on the ground.

"Put him on that and just keep him occupied, Ethan will help." I smiled leaving her too it. Ethan rushed past me and ran straight to Mel and Spencer. Carl, Shane, Andrea, Amy, Carol, Ed and Jacqui came down behind him.

"Where are Max and Anna?" I asked Jacqui as she came over to me.

"That girl? She said she wasn't feeling well so she has Max in there with her rubbing her feet." she said disapprovingly. I groaned and rolled my eyes. Typical Anna getting out of work. I looked over and saw Mel playing with the kids, Shane was showing Carl how to catch frogs and Ed was standing nearby smoking. The women settled around the water's edge and began sorting the washing. I was scrubbing Mels uniform and the sun was warm on my body. It was actually quite peaceful. Then Carl exclaimed and we all looked up, he had attempted to catch something and fallen flat.

"I'm beginning to question the division of labour here! Can someone explain to me how the women wound up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" Jacqui snorted and I laughed.

"The world ended. Didn't you get the memo?" Amy said sarcastically and I nudged her, we both exploded into giggles. Carol looked up at Ed, her hands shaking slightly.

"It's just the way it is." she whispered. Her left eye was big and swollen and she had fingerprint bruises on both her wrists. I looked up from my work and saw Mel bringing Spencer over.

"He's a bit grumbly, I am not sure why." she looked panicked again. I took him from her and noticed he needed a new diaper.

"Ethan!" I called, "bring me a diaper!" he raced over with the diaper bag and I began to change him.

"So what do you miss most since the world ended?" I asked everyone.

"A proper cup of tea!" Mel said instantly. We all laughed.

"That is so British Mel!" I giggled and Mel grinned grabbing a freshly changed Spencer and heading back to the kids with Ethan.

"I do miss my Maytag." Carol sighed.

"I miss my Benz, my sat nav." Andrea chimed in.

"I miss my coffee-maker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey." Jacqui said and Andrea nodded in agreement.

"I miss chocolate!" I said groaning and all the women nodded.

"My computer. And texting." said Amy.

"I miss my vibrator." Andrea said matter of factly. We all exploded into fits of laughter.

"Oh god!" Amy cringed at her sister. I looked at the women and Carol had a sly smile on her face.

"Me too." she said softly and we all cracked up even more. Ed looked over and saw us laughing, he stormed up to us.

"What's so funny?" he demanded.

"Just swapping war stories Ed." Andrea looked at him icily.

"Yeah!" Amy agreed and I nodded.

"Problem?" Andrea asked him.

"Nothin' that concerns you. And you ought to focus on your work. This ain't no comedy club!" he drawled glaring straight at Carol. I could hear an argument behind me, I looked back and saw that Carl was gone and Lori was stomping back to the camp. Shane went and sat on a nearby rock. He looked as though anyone who spoke to him would be in for a tongue lashing. Ed was still standing over us and Andrea stood up.

"Ed, tell you what… you don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here." she said as she tossed a wet shirt at him. He threw it right back and it hit her in the face. She exclaimed, taking a step back.

"Ain't my job Missy!" Ed growled at her and Amy jumped up to grab her sisters arm.

"Andrea don't!" Carol pleaded I a whisper.

"What is your job, Ed? Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?" Andrea spat at him stepping forward again.

"Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch. Tell you what… come on. Let's go." he growled beckoning at Carol to join him. She stood up but Andrea put her arm out in her way.

"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed." Andrea retorted, I jumped up and touched Carols arm, she looked at me, her face terror stricken.

"And I say it's none of your business. Come on now. You heard me." he growled at Carol.

"Carol!" Andrea said as Carol pushed past her, Andrea tried to grab her arm but carol slipped away.

"Andrea please, it doesn't matter." Carol said softly.

"Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze, All right? Now you come on now or you gonna regret it later." Ed said pointing first at Andrea who was shocked at what he had said, and then at Carol.

"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed? Yeah, we've seen them." Jacqui said standing up and reaching for carol.

"Stay out of this." Ed laughed, "now come on! You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on." he made a grab for carol.

"No! No!" Andrea yelled.

"Carol you don't have to go!" I said moving towards her.

"You don't tell me what! I tell you what!" Ed roared and raised his hand, Carol cowered, I rushed forward and put myself between Carol and Ed. He slapped me hard across the face, I crumpled to the ground and in the distance I heard Camille scream the word mumma. I could hear the women scream as Ed kicked at me trying to get to Carol.

'Get away from them!" I heard Amy scream. I could hear gravel as someone ran towards us. I scrambled to my feet and placed myself between Ed and Carol again.

"You dumb bitch, you just don't learn do you as Ed swung at me again. Out of nowhere Mel ran in and jumped on Ed's back and had him in a headlock. Ed struggled against her grip, I could see his eyes bugging out and he began to loose his footing and his knees began to buckle.

"Get off me!" he choked. He let out a strangled bellow. He fell to the ground and Mel rolled him onto his back. She began to punch him in the face over and over. With each strike her knuckles came up more and more bloody.

"ED!" Carol screamed, moving towards him, I grabbed her around the waist.

"It's ok Carol, it's ok." I muttered to her.

Mel continued to pummel him, until her own knuckles were clearly bleeding. Shane came over and tried to pull Mel away but she elbowed him in the nose, causing a spray of blood to erupt from his nostrils.

"Mel! Mel stop! He's had enough!" I screamed and she stopped and looked at me holding a struggling Carol. She wiped her face and looked down at Ed who was moaning in pain.

"You touch any one, your wife, your daughter, Zara or so much as look at them sideways I won't stop next time!" she spat, "You'll be dead!" she snarled, giving him a not so gentle nudge with her foot before walking over to me. Carol wrenched free of my grip and ran over to Ed, tears flowed down her face and she sobbed.

"Ed, oh Ed, oh Ed, I'm sorry oh Ed!" she cried. Mel came over and looked at the hand print on my face.

"You need something cold on that." she said grabbing my wrist, collecting up the kids and taking me back to the camp.

"Mel, I..." I started but she put up her hand.

"Don't I know I went too far but that pig had it coming, I swear he ever lays another hand on you I will skin him alive." she hissed.

"Are you ok mummy?" Camille asked me.

"Yeah baby girl, I'm fine." I looked at Mel, her face stern.

She was right, he did have it coming. She sat me down near the fire and put an ice pack from one of the eskies on my face.

"Right, kids, take Spencer for his nap." she ordered them and the scampered off.

"Thanks." I said quietly.

"And you!" she said pointing at me, "don't you ever put yourself in harms way like that again!" she ordered. I nodded and she gave me a small hug. Mel might have been a well honed killing machine but she was also extremely protective. I was glad she was there with us.


	15. Chapter 15

**Fifteen**

After we had gotten back to the camp, I could see people looking at Mel differently, clearly they had seen Ed stumble up with his face bloodied and bruised. The looks were a mixture of admiration, shame and fear. Admiration because she had stepped in, shame because they had not done it themselves and fear because of the thought of what she could do to them if they crossed the line. Me they looked at no differently, I seemed to have a knack for making Ed angry, it was most likely no surprise that he had struck me. I placed a hand on my cheek, it was hot to the touch and I knew it was swollen. I sighed, it looked like I was going to have a huge bruise soon. Mel glanced over as my hand left my face, she winced and made a slight hiss between her teeth.

"We need to get something else cold on that," she said gently and I shrugged, there weren't exactly a bunch of ice packs or bags of frozen peas handy.

"Mel, thanks, seriously he probably would have killed me if you hadn't stepped in, he hates my guts because I have called him on the crap he puts his family through before, well not as openly as today but still. It was pretty much a matter of time before something happened, I'm just so so glad you were there." I said to her, putting my hand on her arm.

"Zara, you and Camille, you mean the world to the boys, after losing their mother and sister, not to mention their father taking off, you gave them stability, something even the best of us lack nowadays, I owe you so much more than fending off that slobbering lummox, " she looked at my cheek, " I just wish I had seen what he was doing before he got the first shot in, it looked like he kicked you in the ribs too, did he?" she asked concerned. I nodded, he had gotten one good kick into my side.

"Yeah but it doesn't feel like anything is broken thank goodness." I answered with a smile. She lifted my shirt up and looked at the bruise forming on my side, I quickly pulled my shirt back down and raised an eyebrow at her. She beamed at me, clearly not realising the whole boundaries thing.

"So who is cooking dinner tonight, please tell me we don't have to suffer more of Jacquis cooking." she said with a conspiratorial wink, I laughed.

"Miranda I think." I answered with a grin, knowing Mel adored Mirandas cooking.

"Oh the things that woman can do with a tin of tomatoes, if I swung that way and she wasn't already married, I would tie that woman down." she said wistfully. I cracked up, Mel nudged me with her elbow playfully.

"I'm going to check on the kids before dinner, come get me when it is ready, ok?" I said still laughing, Mel nodded, heading to the food preparation area. I walked to our tent and poked my head in.

"You guys and gals ok?" I asked. I saw Ethan, Sophia, and Camille staring at me, Spencer was curled up on my sleeping bag. Ethan stared straight at my cheek.

"I'm sorry Zara," he whispered, hanging his head.

"What? Why?" I asked taken aback.

"Because I should have done something, I should have stopped him." he said quietly.

"What, Ethan, no!" I exclaimed, pushing my way into the tent and enveloping him in a hug, he was taller than me but at this moment he seemed so tiny, like he was four not fourteen.

"It's my job to protect you girls," he mumbled into my shoulder.

'No bud it was not your fault, especially when Ed is so much bigger, you may be a brave guy but you are only fourteen, you can only do so much, I am the adult, it is my job to look out for you, you already help me so much with Camille and Spencer, you don't have to look after me too, don't you dare blame yourself ok mate?" I said holding back tears.

"Zara I am so sorry my daddy did that to you, my daddy is a bad man sometimes," Sophia piped up.

"You don't have to say sorry either girly," I smiled at her, "no one needs to say it, it is over, I am fine, so let's just forget it, ok?" I looked at the kids and they nodded. Camille shuffled to me and kissed my injured cheek as gently as she could without saying a word, I kissed her head and she squeezed under my arm to join the hug. Sophia sat staring and I beckoned her over, hugging her to, the four of us sat there for a little bit, just hugging when I heard Mel call out my name.

"ZARA! KIDS! DINNER!" she hollered.

"COMING!" I hollered back. It was getting darker much quicker lately, a sure sign that winter was not too far off,the nights seemed colder too, I picked up Spencer and shuffled out. I lead the kids out to the camp-fire, our food was laid out for us, it smelled amazing.

"Mmmmm, what are we having?" I asked as I sat down.

" Fideos and potatoes." Miranda answered with a huge smile, I could see she was very pleased with everyone's reaction to her cooking. I waited a few minutes for Spencer's to cool and began to feed him, he was being a bit fussier than usual so when Ethan finished his food and offered to feed him so I could start mine, I gratefully agreed. I handed Spencer over and tucked in, I hadn't anticipated the difficulty I would have chewing with my swollen face.

We continued to chat and Shane began to tell a joke, he was surprisingly upbeat considering the days events, I think he was just as happy to see Ed, who was absent from our little gathering, get his comeuppance.

"So three men are talking about their jobs, the fireman says oh I love my job, fighting fires, saving people it is awesome, the policeman says, I love my job, fighting bad guys, making busts, it is great. So then the gynaecologist says, oh I love working in the private sector!"

Those of us who got it groaned, Ethan looked confused.

"Mom what's a gynaecologist?" asked Carl. Mel was cracking up.

"I like that one, but I have a better one, a man walks into a bar and pulls out a twelve inch lighter..." she began.

"Ok that's enough jokes for now!" Lori fumed, I laughed but nodded, too many innocent ears.

"Where's Jim and Max, oh and Anna?" I asked noticing they were absent too.

"Oh Jim was acting really weird this afternoon, we thought he might have heat stroke or something so we put him in the RV to calm down," Morales answered, "Max and Anna are in their tent I think."

"I'm just going to the bathroom. I'll let Jim out." Amy said jumping up and heading to the RV. I had finished my food and taken Spencer back when Jim joined the group.

"How you feeling Jim?" asked Shane as he sat down.

"Better," said Jim shakily as he tucked into his dinner. Spencer continued fussing, it was incredibly off putting, he had never been that fussy in a long time, the last time he had been as fussy was when we had first been attacked by Walkers. This realisation made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I pulled Camille closer to me, just in case. That was when I heard a high pitched scream coming from the direction of the RV.

"Amy!" Andrea shouted getting up and racing towards the sound.

"Andrea, no!" Mel shouted springing up at the speed of sound and following her. Then we all heard groaning and one of the perimeter alarms we had set up began to go off, Camille gripped my hand tightly and whimpered. I tried to soothe her but I knew she could hear the panic in my voice. A bunch of Walkers burst through the dense brush towards us, everyone scattered into different directions, I had Spencer in my arms with Camille holding my hand, Ethan had a hold of Camille.

"Max!" I screamed, running to the tent, trying to warn them. As I got closer a Walker on the ground grabbed hold of Ethan's leg, he yelled and I let go of Camille's hand to grab onto him, I pulled as hard as I could but it had him tightly in its grip.

"I'm coming!" I heard Mels voice yell and I saw her making her way over, hunting knife in hand, she was kicking and slashing as she went, she felled at least four Walkers before she got to us, she was so fast, blink and you would have missed her. As she kicked a Walker to the ground before stomping on the head and opening it up like a ripe pumpkin, I heard Camille scream, a Walker was advancing on her.

"Camille!" I screamed, not wanting to let go of Ethan but also wanting to save my daughter.

"Let me go, get Camille!" Ethan yelled, prying my hand off his shoulder, "GO!" he bellowed. I looked over to see Mel just a metre away, she nodded as I let go. I turned around and bolted towards my daughter when I realised I had no weapon, Shane had made me leave my machete when we sat down for dinner. When I got to Camille I flung my body over her small cowering form putting Spencer between us, my back to the Walker.

"Baby girl, when it is safe, you take Spencer and run, hide baby ok?" I whispered to her.

"Mumma," Camille sobbed as the Walkers putrid stench got stronger. I could practically hear the thing groaning right next to my ear when I heard a loud whizzing sound and the Walker dropped motionless beside me with an arrow through the head. I jumped up and spun around to see Daryl and Rick burst into the camp-site.

"Zara!" Daryl yelled as he ran towards us, "you girls ok?" I opened my mouth to answer when another Walker came from my left, I saw another arrow shoot past and embed itself in the monsters head. Daryl ran to us and scooped up Camille in one arm, she buried her head in his chest as he dropped his bow and pulled out a large hunting knife, slashing at Walkers as they went past.

"Where's your machete?" he called over the noise.

"Food tent, Shane made a rule about weapons while we eat." I called back. I heard Daryl growl. He beckoned me with his hand and I followed him. I could hear gunfire, that had to have been coming from Rick. As we reached the food tent I saw Carol with Sophia, I waved like a maniac to get their attention and they moved carefully to us.

"You all stay in here!" Daryl said placing Camille inside the sturdy tent, we crammed into the furthest corner of the tent and cowered. I could hear gun shots, yelling and groaning. After what felt like an eternity the noises died down and Daryl came to the tent entrance.

"We got them," he said his face more sombre than usual, "Zara leave Camille and Spencer with Carol and come with me." he said. I passed Spencer to Carol and followed him out. I could see Andrea cradling Amy and bawling, both of them covered in blood. Bodies of the long dead and newly dead littered the ground. I saw Levi, the little boy I had rescued from Atlanta, with chunks of flesh ripped from his arms and legs. I felt the tears run down my face, thinking of the futility of it all, Daryl looked at me sideways but quickly looked away when he saw I had noticed. He stopped abruptly and looked me dead in the eye.

"I'm so sorry Zara," he said quietly, I looked down and at my feet was Mel, sitting next to three bodies drenched in blood. She was as still as a statue, I looked at the bodies again and choked back a scream. There in front of me was Anna, my twin brother and Ethan. Anna was long dead, Max was still concious, I dropped to my knees next to him.

"Zara..." he said in a strangled gurgle before coughing up a huge amount of bright red blood.

"Max, oh god, Max, I'm here, oh god!" I cried trying desperately to brush his matted blood soaked hair away from his face, but it was no use.

"Zara... Stab... Head... Can't... Be... Walker!" he pushed out.

"No! Max, you'll be ok, really!" I yelled at him as he closed his eyes. I saw his chest stop moving and I knew he was gone. I dissolved into tears and put my head on my brothers chest. I felt like my soul had been ripped out, this was my twin, as kids we had been so close, we seemed to feel each others emotional pain, neither one could stand to see the other sad, we had helped each other through so many things, family splits, deaths and raising Camille. And now he was gone. I sobbed violently, my tears mixing with my brothers blood. Suddenly I felt a hand forcibly grab my hair and pull me backwards, I could hear that awful groaning again, I turned my head and found myself looking into the dead vacant eyes of Anna. She had turned so quickly, no one was prepared, I screamed and wrenched myself free as Daryl kicked what used to be Anna in the face, I jumped up and ran to the food tent, at the side against the wall was my machete, I picked it up and raced back, Daryl was kicking at Anna, who was missing a leg I now noticed.

"Move!" I screamed and Daryl darted out of the way as I brought the machete down onto her head. I lifted it above my head a second time and brought it down even more forcefully. The second time she stopped moving completely. Holding my weapon in my hand I looked down on my dead twin. He had bite marks all up his arms. He was going to turn unless I did something, I couldn't let him become one of those things, I had to keep him human. I once more checked his breathing and quickly checked his pulse. He was definitely dead, I steeled myself and swiftly, before I could change my mind, slashed down on Max's head three times, I knew I had destroyed his brain, there was no way he was coming back. Having done that I looked over at Mel, she was staring at me, she then looked back at Ethan, on his ankle was a pronounced bite mark, it was oozing. Ethan was going to turn too. Mel looked back at me and shook her head, she cradled Ethans body in her arms, placing his head against her shoulder, just as I had done earlier while hugging him, then with a quick stab, she drove her hunting knife into the base of his skull, shoving the knife upwards and twisting it, then she placed his body back on the ground. She stroked his face lovingly. Rick came up behind us, I watched his face as he took in who the bodies belonged to, he could see Mel hunched over Ethan, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I am so sorry, I really am..." he started. Mel made a funny snarling noise in the back of her throat and leapt up, still holding her hunting knife she swung at Rick, punching him in the jaw and leaving a tiny gash on his cheek. Rick stumbled backwards and Mel kept swinging.

"Mel!" I yelled, trying to snap her back to reality, she ignored me and continued to snarl, going after Rick, "Melinda Hale! Stop that right now!" I yelled with as much authority as I could muster. Mel froze and turned to face me.

"Ethan is dead!" she screamed at me.

"I know, but Rick didn't do it, the Walkers did, they killed Ethan, and Levi, and Anna... And Max." I said, she looked at me when I said Max's name.

"Oh god, your brother?" she asked and I nodded. She moved towards me and wrapped me in her arms and we both cried. Then Shane stormed up yelling at Rick.

"If you guys had been here, this wouldn't have happened, this is your fault!" he bellowed at them, "you and Daryl had to run off on your little mission, you risked everyone's lives for nothing, Merle isn't here is he?" he looked at Daryl and then back at Rick, "you could have gotten your family killed Rick!"

"Shut the hell up Shane!" I burst out, unable to contain myself any more, "this isn't their fault, it's yours!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" he snapped, moving towards me with a scowl.

"You want specifics Shane? Well how about the fact that you made us put down our weapons, kept them out of our reach, if I had a hold of my machete, I might have been able to gank the bastard that got hold of Ethan, instead I had to try and pull him away, he got bitten and turned because of your stupid macho attitude not wanting anyone to have the upper hand on you, you are a fucking coward!" I ranted.

"You better watch your god damned mouth you down under backwards whore!" he growled lurching forward and grabbing my arm.

"Let her go!" both Mel and Daryl said at the same time. Both looked as though they were ready to kill. Shane let me go but didn't step back. He continued to stand over me, trying to be intimidating, Daryl moved forward and shoved him back.

"Get back!" Daryl yelled and Shane got into his face. Daryl didn't back down and pushed back, Shane stepped backwards and Daryl followed.

"You ever get in her face like that again, I will beat your ass into the ground, I've already warned you once, this is twice, there wont be a third time!" Daryl snarled, Shane growled softly but backed off and sulked away. I moved to hug Daryl and he looked at my face.

"Who did that?" he asked still angry.

"Ed," I answered, "he was going to hit Carol and I got between them, I couldn't let him do it again." Daryl nodded and kissed my forehead.

"Well now Ed is dead too." he said bluntly. As the sun rose we surveyed our once safe home, awash with blood.

"We have to leave." I whispered. Then we turned around as we heard Jim say,

"I told you we would need the graves."


End file.
